When it comes to surprising and low-key celebrity couples, former One Tree Hill star Hilarie Burton and beloved actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan are at the top of the list. The pair are loved individually by fans, but together they are a superstar couple, but also extremely elusive and private, so much so that some don’t even know they are together! They have now been going strong for over seven years, leaving us with these 12 things not widely known about their adorable romance and relationship:
12. They Love Candy
Despite being beloved stars, the two live a very low-key life, and actually co-own a candy store in Rhinebeck, New York, called Samuel’s Sweet Shop. After the passing of the owner, Morgan and Burton, fellow actor Paul Rudd and his wife Julie, and their friend Andy and his wife all bought the store. In an interview, Morgan revealed that Hilarie, Julie, and Andy’s wife, Phoebe, are very hands on and are the ones that keep it running smoothly.
Shutterstock/Kathy Hutchins11. How They Met
Despite a 16 year age difference between the two stars, mutual friends of the pair thought Burton and Morgan would get along great, so they set them up on a blind date in 2009! The pair met thanks to Morgan’s former Supernatural co-star Jensen Ackles, who just so happens to be married to Danneel Harris who starred on One Tree Hill with Burton. In an interview, Morgan explained, “I happened to be single and Jensen said ‘I’ve got a girl you should meet,’ and so I went to a bar and I met Hilarie at a bar with Jensen and Danneel, and, well, the rest is kind of history.” He also revealed that everyone got pretty drunk on the double date, adding, “We ended up back at my house drinking shots of tequila.”
Shutterstock/Kathy Hutchins10. Fast Love
While some blind dates can be awkward, that was certainly not the case for the two stars, and they began dating directly after. Morgan also revealed in an interview with Huffpost Live that after their blind date she was supposed to go to North Carolina the next day and then she was leaving for Paris, but he changed her mind. The actor said he talked Burton into not going to Paris but instead to going with him to New Mexico where he was filming The Resident, and they have been together ever since.
Shutterstock/DFree9. Going Public
Although the two began dating in May of 2009, they were careful to keep their relationship under wraps until they finally confirmed their relationship in 2010. The pair made their first ever appearance as a couple on April 20, 2010 for the premiere of Morgan’s film The Losers. Of course, fans were ecstatic to see the two amazing actors together and a source confirmed, “Their relationship moved pretty quickly.”
Shutterstock/Tinseltown8. Past Loves
Now, Morgan and Burton have been together for over seven years, but it was a long road to happiness for them both. In 1992, Morgan was married to actress Anya Longwell, and after they divorced, he began dating actress Mary Louise Parker in 2006 after they met on the set of Weeds. The two announced their engagement in February of 2008, but broke up only a few months later in April. Meanwhile Hilarie Burton married Ian Prange, the son of One Tree Hill’s executive producer Greg Prange, in 2004, but they divorced in 2009 shortly before Burton began dating Morgan. Despite reports of her marriage, Burton stated in 2019 that she was never married and divorced from Prange.
Shutterstock/Tinseltown7. Marriage?
As an extremely private couple, there were constant rumors about a wedding, but never any proof that it actually happened, and by 2014 they were calling each other “husband” and “wife” but never gave any details about a wedding. In 2014 there were reports that the couple married in a very small and extremely private ceremony, but the following year Morgan denied the rumors and said they were planning on getting married when he had enough time off work. While there was still no confirmation of a wedding, in a May interview Morgan directly referred to Hilarie as his “wife.” On October 7, 2019, the couple revealed that they had been married that past weekend after 10 years together.
Shutterstock/Featureflash Photo Agency6. Baby News
With a whirlwind romance that went from a blind date to a full blown relationship extremely quickly, the two did not take much time before taking another huge step in their relationship. In August of 2009, only a couple months after they began dating, Burton became pregnant with the couple’s first child and she promptly went into hiding for the duration of the pregnancy. The two did not confirm the birth of their child until months later and it was finally revealed by Morgan that in March of 2010 the pair welcomed a son they named Augustus “Gus” Morgan. In September 2017, the two confirmed they were expecting their second child and on February 16, 2018 welcomed a daughter named George Virginia Morgan.
Shutterstock/Kathy Hutchins5. Journey to Baby Number Two
In a very rare move, the couple which more open about the birth of their daughter. Not only did they announce her birth and share photos, Burton even shared their heartbreaking and emotional struggles on their journey to have their daughter. In early March, Burton took to her Instagram to reveal that they had their daughter, and joked she made an announcement because of Morgans “track record for spilling the beans” but to also share her story of miscarrying. “As some of you know, @jeffreydeanmorgan is off in Europe getting ready to do some big conventions. And he’s self aware enough to know his track record for “spilling the beans” isn’t so great (bless his heart!). So before he starts tripping up in an attempt to maintain our privacy, he asked that I go ahead and post something about our little girl’s birth,” Burton began the post. “But before I do that, there’s something I really want to say to all the women out there who are trying…..It took a long time for Jeffrey and I to have this baby. The first time I got pregnant, it took a year and a half. I surprised him on Christmas with baby Seahawk booties. We cried. We celebrated. We picked out names. And we lost that baby.” She went on to share that they had more miscarriages and she began to become more and more upset which made her even more cautious when she became pregnant with their daughter. “So when this pregnancy started, we were cautious. I didn’t want to celebrate for fear of jinxing it. I didn’t want a baby shower. I checked her heartbeat every day, up until the day she was born. And now that she is here, I just stare at her in wonder all day. I see her in her daddy’s arms and I don’t take any of it for granted. She screams bloody murder and I smile because she is so wildly alive.” Burton concluded her post with an inspirational messages for couples going through the same difficulties and added a birth announcement.
Shutterstock/Kathy Hutchins4. Being Parents
Even though the proud parents kept their son a secret for quite awhile, they eventually couldn’t help but gush about him a year after his birth in 2011. The two were on the red carpet for the premiere of Breaking Dawn: Part 1 where Morgan revealed that Gus had just began saying “no!” When asked what he says “no” to, Burton added, “Everything! What’s your favorite color?’ ‘No!'” Morgan called being a parent “spectacular,” but also added, “It’s hard. Between the two of us, we’ve had our hands full. But we’ve managed to do it without any help. We have babysitters now and again, but we don’t have nannies. We wing it, man.” He also joked, “This is our second pseudo adult night out. I’m going to say pseudo because I’m not sure if Twilight is an adult night. It’s a night out.”
Shutterstock/Kathy Hutchins3. The Farm
Early on in their relationship, the two lived in L.A., but it shouldn’t be too surprising that the elusive pair weren’t fans of the bustling city. They ended up buying a log cabin when their son arrived in 2010, but quickly outgrew the log cabin and in 2013 they bought a farm near Rhinebeck, New York, and they love their rural life. “I am very happy living here on our farm. If I never work again, I’m a happy camper, because I have all these other amazing creative outlets,” Burton said of her life with Morgan. “The first weekend we met, we daydreamed, ‘Hey, I want to own a farm. I want to own a shop.’ And now, we live in this beautiful little town, and we have a farm and we have a shop that we care so very much about.”
Shutterstock/Kathy Hutchins2. Similar Careers
Although they didn’t meet until 2009, the two have had funny similarities in their careers. First of all, the pair were both stars on beloved CW shows as Jeffrey Dean Morgan starred in Supernatural as John Winchester for 12 episodes from 2005-2008. Meanwhile Hilarie Burton starred on One Tree Hill as Peyton Sawyer from 2003-2009. Then, they coincidentally both had stints on the hit series Grey’s Anatomy as well. From 2006-2009 Morgan appeared as Denny Duquette for 23 episodes of the series, and years later Burton appeared in three episodes as Dr. Lauren Boswell. Finally the pair also both appeared in the series Extant with Morgan starring in 13 episodes and Burton appearing in six, and it helped the pair because Morgan was hesitant to take the role because it was in L.A. far away from his family. “When I took the job, the deal was, ‘We’ll get you home as much as possible,’ and that just hasn’t worked out. But Hilarie got a job on Extant, which was fantastic. You’ll see her a couple of times throughout the season, so that’s one way we’ve been able to keep the family sort of together,” he explained.
Shutterstock/s_bukley1. Good Cop, Bad Cop
For many it was odd seeing the charming and lovable Morgan take on the villainous, cruel and murderous role of Negan on The Walking Dead, but according to Burton it has made him even better when he is at home. “It’s made him good cop at home. He gets all his bad cop stuff out of the way at work and then he comes home and he’s happy dad,” she revealed to ET. “I’m sweet all the time. And my kid thinks I’m cool, so that works,” Morgan added of the perks of playing Negan. “I take out the trash.”
Shutterstock/Tinseltown
