What Matthew Broderick & Sarah Jessica Parker's First Meeting Was Like

Actors Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are completely inseparable. Believe it or not, the beloved celebrity couple has hardly spent a night away from each other since their very first date on March 8, 1992 — except when one of them has to be away for a shoot, or while Broderick was caring for his sick mother. Other than that, Parker and Broderick have stuck together like glue. During a 2023 appearance on "The Howard Stern Show," the former Broadway star shared how she initially met Broderick while at a movie theater with her brother to watch Robin Williams' comedy drama "The Fisher King." As she recalled, "The movie wasn't starting yet, so we went across the street and got some pizza." Before this, a director had already briefly mentioned Broderick to the "Sex and the City" star, although she happened to be seeing someone else at the time. 

The same was true for Broderick, "So it was illegal, and we stayed away from one another." The "Inspector Gadget" star told his version of their sweet love story to YES Network back in 2012. Oddly enough, it was Parker's walk that first caught Broderick's attention and it's one he hasn't forgotten to this day. "It's very unique, because I wouldn't remember most people the first time I saw them come down the street," the actor explained (via E! News). And although he was instantly charmed, months went by before he mustered up the courage to ask Parker out by leaving her "a very charming, very self-effacing" voicemail in which "[He said], 'Hi, it's Matthew Broderick,'" as she informed The New York Times in 1996. Turning to Broderick, the A-lister quipped, "You had to use your last name."

As mentioned, Sarah Jessica Parker was initially reluctant to begin her relationship with Matthew Broderick as the two were both seeing other people at the time. However, fate clearly had other plans, and in a 1996 interview with the Los Angeles Times the "Family Stone" star couldn't help but gush about her partner: "He's probably the funniest fellow I've met in my whole life. He's so bright, so handsome, I think he's the most handsome man I've seen in my life." Parker added, "And he inspires me. I'm mad for him, totally." The feeling was obviously mutual. In 2022, Broderick revealed on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen" that he fell in love with his future wife the second he laid eyes on her at the movie theater all the way back in 1991. 

Broderick also shared that the qualities he admires most about his wife are "Humor and wisdom." After dating for six years, the happy couple exchanged vows at the Angel Orensanz Synagouge in New York City on March 19, 1997. Parker famously wore a black wedding dress to the surprise ceremony (a decision which she came to regret many years later, confessing to Marie Claire in 2006 that she didn't want to draw too much attention by wearing white, despite it being her big day). They've since welcomed three children but the time has flown by, as Broderick expressed on the "Quarantined with Bruce" podcast in 2020, when asked about the secret to his enduring marriage, noting, "I mean, I can't believe that it's been that long. It doesn't feel like it."