John Stamos and Caitlin McHugh Met Filming a 'Law & Order: SVU' Episode

For years, Full House star John Stamos had yearned to find the right partner and start a family. He was so eager to have kids that at one point the 57-year-old actor lamented to US Weekly that his "ovaries were rattling."

And in 2018, he finally got his wish: He married 34-year-old model and actress Caitlin McHugh and welcomed his first child, Billy. But prior to the wedding bells and their son came a whirlwind romance that all began roughly a decade ago.

How John met Caitlin

While the two officially began seeing each other in 2015, they actually first crossed paths back in 2011 when filming an episode of Law & Order: SVU. Given that John and Caitlin would later have a baby together, the story of their first encounter is now especially crazy.

In John's own words from a People interview in 2017:

At the time that they first met, the actress was seeing someone else. It wasn't until Caitlin's roommate appeared on an episode of Fuller House (and Caitlin was in the audience) that the two reportedly saw each other again.

"I walked in, I went, ‘Hey, are you stalking me?’ She was like, ‘No …’ That’s why I love her," the General Hospital star said. "She’s like, ‘What? No. I haven’t thought of you twice.'”

John always wanted kids

In December of 2016, John's co-stars Candace Cameron Bure, Jodie Sweetin, and Andrea Barber spilled that, like his TV character Uncle Jesse, he was the "baby whisperer" of the cast.

“He’s the best with little babies and kids,” Candace told People at the time. “So, he should have kids of his own, but if not, there’s plenty of TV children to go around.”

John himself later confirmed, again, his wish to have a family to ET, saying it's always been in his plan and that Caitlin is a "gentle, kind, graceful soul who would be a good mother."

"It's just taken me a lot longer than I anticipated," he said. "It would be a tragedy if I didn't have children and I finally found the right woman — the perfect woman.”

John pops the big question

The big moment came in October of 2017, about two years after the pair began dating. For the proposal, John picked Caitlin's favorite place in the world: Disneyland.

“He put together some of the most romantic moments from Disney and Pixar animation [in a video],” Lara Spencer of Good Morning America reported. “And then he ended it with Sebastian from The Little Mermaid saying, ‘Just ask the girl’ to John.”

And so, he did.

Before they knew it, a baby was on the way

A little less than two months after getting engaged, John revealed that he and his new fiancée were expecting their first child together.

“We have the same morals and the same values, that all clicked nicely. So we said, ‘Oh, well, maybe we should have a family,'" the ER actor said to People.

"[Caitlin said] ‘Maybe we should have a kid [before we get married]’ and I said, ‘Why?’” John recalled, to which Caitlin allegedly responded, “'Because you’re old.'”

A fuller house and heart

In February of 2018, John officially married Caitlin in what was described as a "romantic church service" in Studio City, California.

A few months later, the Fuller House actor became a dad to William (Billy) Christopher Stamos, who was named after John's father. To celebrate his son, John shared a sweet photo of himself cuddling with little Billy.

"From now on, the best part of me will always be my wife and my son," he wrote.

You Might Also Like

• A Cleaning Expert Explains the Best Way to Clean Cloth Face Masks After You Wear Them — Good Housekeeping

• 35 Delicious Pantry Recipes That Use What's Already in Your Cabinets and Freezer — Good Housekeeping

• The Amish keep to themselves. And they’re hiding a horrifying secret. — Cosmopolitan