Adam Brody Shares Secret to 10-Year Marriage to Leighton Meester

Adam Brody made the right choice marrying Leighton Meester.

On Tuesday, Sept. 24, the O.C. alum, 44, appeared on Today with Hoda and Jenna to promote his new Netflix series, Nobody Wants This. 

While discussing the romcom, which costars Kristen Bell, Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager got their guest to open up on his own long-lasting relationship. 

“We should point out, you’ve been married for 10 years,” Hoda, 60, said before asking Brody, “What’s the magic of your relationship?” 

“Oh, pick someone good. Be lucky and be in love with someone who’s great and then just kind of listen to them,” he replied. 

His answer seemed to hit a soft spot for Bush Hager, 42, who added, “I love that.” 

“If you’re with someone great, you’re on third base,” Brody continued. “Not that it doesn’t take sacrifice and humility and you have to grow together and you have to be willing to grow, because you’re not going to be able to stay 100 percent right where you are. But if you’re with someone wonderful, I think you’re on third base.”

Brody and the Gossip Girl star, 38, tied the knot in 2014. Since then, the couple has welcomed two children together — daughter Arlo, 9, and a son, 4, whose name has not yet been revealed.

While on Today, Brody also discussed his and Meester’s parenting style, and whether or not he was a “helicopter” dad or if he identified more as the head of a “free-range” household.

“Of course, I’m going to feel like it’s the perfect balance of all of it,” he said of being a bit of both. 

Brody admitted that he and Meester are “honest” and “have some very truthful conversations” with their kids, “for better or worse.” Still, he doesn’t believe that he nor his wife could be labeled as “overly strict.”

“There is a helicopter, you know, to keep them safe,” he said. “I’m not overly strict but I see the sharp edges, literally. And their heads aren’t gonna… I want to keep those heads maintained.”

Last week, Brody appeared on the Sept. 16 episode of Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, where he shared insight on the dynamics of his and Meester’s working relationship. 

“Everything is run through each other,” he said. 

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“We are each other’s managers, and we also have the same two agents… We are in each other’s s— in that way, and we even did a movie together a couple of years ago,” Brody continued, referring to the couple’s 2023 adventure thriller River Wild.

He described his wife as “charmingly aloof to the business,” noting that the longtime actress will sometimes not know the names of the biggest stars. Still, Brody says “it doesn’t diminish her art.”

“She’s a poet, she has a depth and a read on material that is always illuminating and has a great radar,” he added, praising her talents.

Nobody Wants This premieres on Netflix on Sept. 26.