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The Sweet Story Behind Lauren Graham and Peter Krause’s Low-Key and Long-Lasting Love

It made sense for co-stars Lauren Graham and Peter Krause to keep their budding romance hush-hush when sparks started flying between them on the set of Parenthood back in 2010. They were playing brother and sister, after all. Still, now that the show has long been off the air, the couple remain notoriously private when it comes to their personal lives. Even after nearly 10 years together, fans are regularly surprised to learn they’re in a relationship! But that hasn’t stopped the lovebirds from dropping adorable stories about their courtship along the way. 

They first met as guest actors on Caroline in the City in 1995, but their wires didn’t seem to cross quite right. Krause explained on LIVE with Kelly that he helped Graham move some furniture around her apartment at the time, but he didn’t “catch the signal.” Graham, on the other hand, remembered another night from that initial meeting in her memoir, Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (and Everything in Between) ($12.87, Amazon). “He asked me over to his house to play a board game — and that’s exactly what we ended up doing. So I was like: This guy doesn’t like me.” Clearly, the timing wasn’t quite right yet for these two back then. 

Over the years, they continued to run into each other at Hollywood parties and events. They were even paired up to present an award at the 2002 Screen Actors Guild Awards. “Backstage that night, we made small talk,” Graham wrote in her book. “Just as our names were being announced, he turned to me and said calmly: ‘Want to hold hands?’” She was caught off-guard by his “odd, old-fashioned, unexpected question,” but agreed to walk hand-in-hand to the podium. “When Peter and I held hands that night all those years ago, I had no idea we’d end up together one day. It might have been nice if he could have turned to me and said: ‘Look, tonight isn’t the time, but we’re going to leave here and learn a bunch of things that are going to make this work approximately five years from now – see you then!’” 

Even her TV mom on Gilmore Girls, actress Kelly Bishop, hinted at how Graham and Krause could make a great couple long before they actually got together. “In a maternal, protective way, she found most of my boyfriends at the time lacking, and once told me I needed someone who was more my equal like ‘that wonderful actor on Six Feet Under.’” Bishop was of course referring to Krause, who starred in the HBO series. Looks like that uncanny level of spot-on maternal instinct can extend to co-stars, too!

Of course, it all worked out in the end and the pair finally reunited at just the right time for love to blossom between them. Although Graham admitted to Good Housekeeping that they initially tried to keep things in the “friend-zone,” there was no denying their connection. “We couldn’t stop talking. Not about ourselves, but about the world and books and family.” It didn’t take long for that to turn into more than a friendly relationship and they began dating in 2010 during the first season of Parenthood. That certainly makes their ability to put those feelings aside and provide compelling performances as brother and sister throughout the series all the more impressive in hindsight! “Once we got together, there was no game play. It was like, ‘You like me and I like you.’ It gave me an understanding on life: This is how things happen, and it’s completely random.” 

Although rumors about Graham joining Krause for an episode of his current TV show, the Fox procedural 9-1-1, haven’t come to fruition, we hope only the best continues to come for this lovely couple both on and off screen. 

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