Freddie Prinze Jr. Shuts Down the ‘Hot' Hollywood Couple Myth About Sarah Michelle Gellar Marriage

Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. are one of Hollywood’s most enduring couples after 22 years of marriage, and there is a very realistic secret to keeping their romance thriving.

Prinze Jr., who is currently starring in the sequel to I Know What You Did Last Summer, shared that his relationship with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer star and their two children, Charlotte, 15, and Rocky, 12, are his most cherished accomplishments.

“I just love my kids. My daughter [Charlotte] is away for the summer, and I hate it. I like hanging out with my son [Rocky] — he’s really funny. I love my wife, man. I married her for a reason,” he said to Variety.

Still, he doesn’t think that they should be #CouplesGoals because “marriage is hard no matter what business you’re in.” Prinze Jr. was frank about their lives together.

“What works for us might not work for everyone else. We work at it,” he continued. “I’m not perfect. She’s not perfect. We piss each other off, but we respect one another. We were friends first. Maybe that’s the secret? It wasn’t just ‘Oh, she’s hot, he’s hot — let’s hook up.’”

While their marriage isn’t based on hotness, Gellar and Prinze Jr. still are one of the most sizzling red carpet duos. They were a ’90s “it” couple after meeting on the set of the original 1997 horror flick, I Know What You Did Last Summer. (Spoiler alert: Gellar’s character died in the first film.) It took three years for them to figure out that they wanted to be more than just friends.

“One day, I just knew we were gonna get married, and I knew I was gonna propose. I didn’t know when or how. And so, I did, and fortunately, she was on the same page,” Prinze Jr. told People in 2020. “My instincts were correct.” Gellar described her husband as her “first love,” which just gives us all sorts of feels.

They got engaged in 2001, and on Sept. 1, 2002, they walked down the aisle to become husband and wife, and they haven’t looked back. Their marriage may have worked because they were “young people that are old souls,” per Prinze Jr.’s Variety interview, but there still seems to be a little extra magic in how they put each other and their family first in the crazy entertainment industry.

Before you go, click here to see the longest celebrity marriages.