Jerry O’Connell: ‘Stand By Me helped me marry up’

Cult Stephen King movie Stand By Me helped star Jerry O’Connell marry way out of his league.
The actor constantly had to pinch himself when he started dating model-turned-actress Rebecca Romijn, because he couldn’t believe he was romancing the beauty.
Family members and friends were just as surprised when he started going steady with the X-Men star – but things became clearer when he spent a night with his wife-to-be’s girlfriends.
After a few drinks, one of his wife’s best pals from high school took him aside and revealed Rebecca was a huge fan of Stand By Me, in which he starred in as a chubby kid.
“Rebecca was like, ‘Shut up, shut up!'” Jerry recalled during a co-hosting guest spot on Live! with Kelly on Friday (29Jul16).
“She (friend) was like, ‘She had posters of it all over her room. She loved that movie…’ I have that movie to thank. So I’m convinced to this day Stand By Me is why I married my wife… I’m not afraid to admit I married way out of my league. It’s a shocker. Even my family was like, ‘Why is your wife doing this?’ Even close friends of mine were like, ‘That woman is making a huge mistake!'”
But he jokes his loved ones were ecstatic when Rebecca agreed to become his spouse – because they knew the couple’s kids would look beautiful.
“They were like, ‘We’re gonna be OK!'” he laughed.
O’Connell and Romijn, who was previously married to actor John Stamos, celebrated their ninth wedding anniversary earlier this month (Jul16). They are parents to twin girls Dolly and Charlie.