Leighton Meesters on Why She and Adam Brody Had Small Wedding

It’s safe to assume Leighton Meester doesn’t look at her relationship with Adam Brody through such an iconic lens as maybe everyone else does.

On the outside, fans see the stars of two of the biggest shows from the early aughts — Gossip Girl and The O.C. — ended up together in real life, but to them, their relationship is actually much more low-key. It’s one of the reasons why Meester said they opted for a smaller wedding.

“On sets and in life, I’ve been able to wear a fancy dress and hit a mark and say lines, and I didn’t want it to feel like that,” she recently told Bustle. “I wanted it to feel intimate and private.”

Meester and Brody — who share a daughter and son together — tied the knot in a private wedding in 2014, and have continued to keep much of their personal life out of the spotlight.

The Good Cop/Bad Cop actress later clarified that while she does “appreciate attention” as an actor, it doesn’t mean it’s her primary motivator when it comes to her personal life.

The idea of Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl and Seth Cohen from The O.C. getting together in real life does sound like this grand love story. Just take the viral video of Brody kissing Meester after winning best actor in a comedy for Nobody Wants This at the Critics Choice Awards earlier this year as an example.

Even Erin Foster, the creator of Nobody Wants This — which stars Brody and will also feature Meester in season two — gets it. “They are both like these millennial icons, and the idea that they somehow got together in real life and started a family I think kind of blew people’s minds,” she told Bustle.

However, their life together seems much more simple, as Meester continues to think about her family first, especially before taking on new acting projects.

“There’s been a lot of stuff that I haven’t done because I want to be with them,” she explained. “I don’t like being away from them. I’m sure a lot of people feel this way, but I’m especially not into it. Obviously, for the very right thing, I would probably just be like, ‘Let’s figure it out.’ I mean, I’m not going to leave my family for a year. We’re not doing that. But apart from that, we have a good system in place, where I can consider jobs carefully. And every other piece of life.”