Peter Gallagher Looks Back on 'Powerful' First Meeting with Wife Paula Harwood and Why It Took '7 Years' to Ask Her Out

Peter Gallagher had to find the courage to call his now wife Paula Harwood.

On The New York Times‘ Modern love podcast, the 68-year-old actor reflected on his 41-year marriage to Harwood. He first met her in the stairwell when they were students at Tufts University and said that despite his poor memory, he “remembers almost every moment” of the meeting.

“No words were exchanged,” Gallagher recalled. “And we were just kind of, you know, sliding past each other.”

While Harwood’s hair was done up and she wore “this skinny turtleneck and a disco belt and skinny velvet bell-bottoms and platform shoes,” OC star noted that he looked like he “just left 8th grade gym class.”

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Peter Gallagher for ‘Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist’ in January 2020. Maarten de Boer/getty

“It was just powerful,” Gallagher said of their first run. “And I spent the next seven years trying to figure out how I could go out with her.”

He admitted that after seeing her, he looked her up in the freshman yearbook and found her “unattainable.” Nevertheless, he made an effort to appear in the canteen to talk to her during lunch and “make her laugh”.

“Honestly, it’s still a big component of our relationship,” he said Law and order: SVU added the actor.

Peter Gallagher recalls mother scolding him after split with now-wife Paula Harwood: ‘That’s your problem’

Although they eventually got together, their relationship was not without friction. During his appearance on the podcast, Gallagher also spoke about how his mother invited him to come back to Harwood and tell after a short break.

He shared how his mother said, “She’s a wonderful young woman and any problem you have with her you’ll have with anyone because they’re your problems. So make damn sure you figure out what’s going on with you before you start switching partners like socks.”

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Paula Harwood and Peter Gallagher at the 12th Annual Black Tie & Blue Jeans Gala on November 14, 2008 in Beverly Hills, California.

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Peter Gallagher explains why his 41-year marriage to wife Paula Harwood is ’embarrassing’

In honor of its momentous 40th anniversary last year, The Grey’s Anatomy the actor shared then and now photos of the couple on Instagram.

“Here we are in the church, on the same day with the same sun and blue sky where we got married exactly 40 years ago. I’m so glad we did,” wrote Gallagher, who shares daughter Kathryn, 30, and son James, 27, with Harwood.

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Harwood also posted a tribute to their enduring marriage on Instagram, writing alongside the same photos, “40 years ago, on May 7, 1983, these two babies were married in the church we’re standing in front of right now. We are two very happy, grateful people.”

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Source: HIS Education