Marc Anthony told Jennifer Lopez he would marry her the very first time they met.
The pair were strangers when Lopez, who turns 40 on Friday (24Jul09), visited Anthony backstage on New York's Broadway, where he was performing in a 1997 production of The Capeman.
Anthony reveals, "It was 12 years ago, I was on Broadway. I hadn't met Jennifer before. She was just about to break out.
"She brought her dad backstage to meet me.
"As soon as she walked through the door, I probably said the worst thing a guy could tell a girl. I was like, 'You're my wife and you don't even know it.'"
Anthony, who finally married Lopez in 2004, admits she was freaked out by his outburst, and it took him years - during which she dated Sean 'Diddy' Combs and Ben Affleck - to convince her he was right all along.
He adds, "She was like, 'Well that's intense.' I told her, 'I don't know where that came from.'
"And now she gets it. Now she's my girl."