Jason Ritter Didn’t Think He “Deserved” Wife Melanie Lynskey

Melanie and Jason, who is set to make a guest appearance on her series Yellowjackets this season, began dating after working together on the 2013 movie The Big Ask, years after first meeting.

“We had met each other over the years in passing a few times, lots of mutual friends,” Melanie said on The Drew Barrymore Show. “And he always forgot me and I would be reintroducing myself, like, is this guy for real? And then we got cast in a movie together and we were both going through very difficult times in our lives, both going through breakups. It was a very tumultuous time.”

But amid the ups and downs, Melanie knew Jason was “the one.”

“I had a very very old dog,” she remembered, “and Mouse was so so old at this point in getting up in the night multiple times, needing to pee, and it was kind of driving me crazy and Jason would get up with her every single time and just take her outside and go back to sleep and get up and take her outside. And I think that was when I was like, oh, I could have a child with this man, like, I could really do this.”

Now, they’ve been married for early three years and share a daughter, 4. And as Melanie put it, “He’s really the infinite patience and kindness and love,” the actress recalled, “and I was like, I think this is a good person.”

And during their decade together, the couple have made it clear they’re each other’s no. 1 fan—both onscreen and off. In fact, Jason recently got candid about what it’s been like seeing Melanie’s career roar to new heights in recent years.

“She’s just been so wonderful for so long and she never really put a lot of thought process into anything else aside from her work. That was always the most important thing to her,” he exclusively told E! News earlier this month. “I hope that new fans of Melanie will go back and watch some of the independent movies and other shows that she’s been a part of. She’s just been doing incredible work since she was 15.”