Things You Might Not Know About Harry Connick Jr. And Jill Goodacre’s Relationship

Celebrity couples come and go, but a few have defied the usual Hollywood odds and stuck together through the ups and downs of fame, including beloved entertainer Harry Connick Jr. and former supermodel Jill Goodacre. The pair met back in the ’90s and have since battled some tough challenges, celebrated some amazing moments and have never been shy to share about their romance and relationship. Here 12 things you never knew about the stunning and talented pair and their relationship:

12. How They Met

Although many outlets report that the handsome entertainer and gorgeous Victoria’s Secret supermodel met at a party in 1991, it was actually much more low-key. “We were both out in California staying at the same hotel. I was checking out and he was swimming in the pool. Thankfully, he came up for air and saw me walk by! He introduced himself, and it was truly love at first sight,” Goodacre said of their meeting in the early ’90s. Connick added, “When I introduced myself, I wasn’t trying to ask her on a date or anything. But she is such an amazing beauty that the physical attraction was so strong. I never saw anybody that beautiful in person before.”

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11. Instantly Smitten

For their first date, the two went to lunch, but they both knew things were already going to be serious even if they didn’t say it out loud. “I was so smitten that I held up filming an Italian TV show for two hours. It was his big blue eyes and his Southern drawl that were the biggest turn-ons,” Goodacre said of their great first date. She also admitted that before their first date she already knew he was the man she wanted to marry. “Instantly, within 30 seconds of meeting him. There was something very intense between us.” Connick added in a separate interview, ” What’s really funny is that [Jill] called her mom that night [the night they met] and said, ‘I met the guy I’m going to marry.’ Of course she didn’t let me know.”

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10. Beginning of the Relationship

While they were both fairly certain their relationship was going to go way further than one date, the pair took their time. Although they both agree that the first kiss did not happen on the first date, Goodacre insists it took some time before a kiss happened but Connick Jr. says it wasn’t too long after the first date. “He kissed my hand. He’s a gentleman. But I did give him my number.” A year into their romance things had become pretty serious, but they still took it slow as they maintained their separate apartments in New York City’s Greenwich Village. “ I thought I wanted to marry her when I first met her,” Connick explained of the pair taking their time, adding, “Growing up, marriage was a serious thing in my house. I didn’t want to get married and then get divorced; that happens a lot in my business.”

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9. The Engagement

Although the pair both knew right away that they wanted to be together, they didn’t rush the relationship. After two years of dating, Connick proposed, and the pair was surer than ever that they wanted to be together. Connick gave Goodacre an emerald-cut diamond ring and it was all worth the wait. “He asked me to marry him after two years together, then we were engaged for two more. It was amazing that we waited for so long, but we wanted to get to know each other,” Goodacre explained.

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8. The Wedding

After two years of dating followed by two years being engaged, Harry Connick Jr. and Jill Goodacre were wed on April 16, 1994, in a lavish affair. The two wed in New Orleans at the incredible St. Louis Cathedral and were supported by 300 guests including some famous faces. Goodacre wore a stunning Valentino ballgown with short sleeves and a polka dot bodice while Connick looked handsome in an Armani morning suit. After the ceremony, the pair enjoyed a carriage ride through the streets and greeted guests at their reception held at Gallier Hall and after the big day quickly jetted off for a Caribbean honeymoon.

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7. Home Life

Celebrities often are thought of having glamorous lives full of glitz and paparazzi, but the two have worked hard to stay away from all that. With homes in New Orleans and Connecticut, the family’s main home is in Connecticut because they wanted to stay away from the spotlight. “We like the fact that it’s a pretty laid-back life here in Connecticut. We can just be home. There’s no scene. We can just live our lives and not really deal with the industry,” Harry Connick Jr. explained. Goodacre added that they love to be home more than anywhere else. “We love to watch movies. We’re real homebodies. We’re just hang-out people.”

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6. Their Family

Almost two years exactly to the day after their wedding in 1994, the stunning couple expanded their family when they welcomed their first daughter Georgia Tatum on April 17, 1996. A year later their family grew again when their daughter Sarah Kate was born on September 12, 1997. Five years later they welcomed their third child and their daughter Charlotte on June 26, 2002. Despite their fame, the couple have tried to raise their daughters with as normal of a life as possible and have worked hard to instill the same morals and values that they were raised with. With three daughters, one of their biggest concerns was for their daughters to know their value and worth outside of just physical beauty which is focused on so much. “For us, the first thing that we say when they walk into a room isn’t how pretty they are,” Connick Jr. said about their parenting philosophy. “It’s funny how with young men, you don’t really say, ‘Oh, look how handsome you look,’ but when a girl walks into a room, you say ‘Oh, look how beautiful you look.’ My girls are beautiful, [but] all three of them are geniuses.”

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5. Differences Bring Them Together

Although “opposites attract” is an old cliche, sometimes it is true and for some couples, their differences are what balance them out and that is true for Harry Connick Jr. and Jill Goodacre. “I’m real impatient and she’s very patient,” Connick Jr. explained. “She’ll interview 10 different painters for the house and it drives me nuts, but only because I think it highlights my problem.” He added, “I really love just sitting and talking to her. We work really well together because I have a lot to say and she doesn’t say as much.” Despite their differences, the two have admitted that after so many years together they have come to form a unit and often don’t disagree. “We agree on just about everything,” the singer said, while Goodacre added, “I think that’s why we get along so well.”

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4. Raising Three Daughters

With three daughters, living in the spotlight and busy schedules, Jill Goodacre and Harry Connick Jr. made parenting their priority and have always had a very close relationship with their daughters, and one of their proudest accomplishments is that they have never been “embarrassing” parents. “You constantly hear stories about kids who get embarrassed by their parents or daughters who get embarrassed by their dads … and I’m not saying this to be cool, but we never really got into that,” Connick Jr. happily said in an interview. “It was never really that, ‘Can you drop me off a block away from school because I don’t want to be seen with you?’” the star explained. “It was never like that with us. We never had that, and I don’t know why, but we’ve always had a unique relationship and it’s been pretty great.” It hasn’t always been easy, however. Back in 2015, the couple’s eldest daughter Georgia was arrested after throwing a party at her parent’s home in New Canaan, Connecticut while her parents were away. She was charged with procuring alcohol for minors and permitting minors to possess alcohol.

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3. Jill’s Cancer Battle

Throughout their relationship, even in the spotlight, the two have always remained down-to-earth and were able to keep their personal life private except for what they wanted to share. In October of 2017, the two surprised everyone when they revealed that for the past five years Goodacre had been battling breast cancer. In October 2012 she was diagnosed with Stage 1 invasive ductal carcinoma which required an immediate lumpectomy and radiation. Connick Jr. was right by his wife’s said, but admitted he was terrified because when he was 13 he lost his mother to ovarian cancer. “I was scared I was going to lose her, absolutely. I wasn’t going to let her see that, but I was. I know from losing my mom that the worst can happen. She’s my best friend, and I really don’t know what I would do without her,” he said at the time. At her five-year in remission mark, the pair has never been stronger and happier together through the good and bad. “I knew as soon as I met her that I wanted to grow old with her,” Connick emotionally said. “I’m so grateful that I still can.”

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2. Their “Secret”

In Hollywood a long-lasting relationship unfortunately isn’t as common as fleeting romances and marriages so when a couple such as Harry Connick Jr. and Jill Goodacre are together for so many years, they are constantly asked what their “secret” to a successful relationship. For the pair, it’s changing and working hard and accepting the changes. “It’s like art. As you work on something, whether it’s a painting or a piece of music, it’s going to evolve. A relationship is like that too. I don’t have to think, What can I do to spice up my marriage? Because as time goes on, she changes, I change. I’m not married to the same girl I met by the pool. I love this woman more than I loved the person I married, but just in a different way,” Connick Jr. said of his relationship and long marriage to his wife.

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1. Careers

As one of the most prolific Victoria’s Secret models of the ’80s and early ’90s, Jill Goodacre was just as famous as her husband when the pair began dating. In pop culture she is also best known for the iconic Friends episode where a city-wide blackout had Chandler trapped in a bank vestibule with the model. Similarily, Connick Jr. had his own turn on popular shows of the time including Will & Grace, but after their marriage, Goodacre decided to step back from the spotlight in order to raise their family, and to this day Connick Jr. can’t believe what an amazing woman he married. “She’s a mystery to me, I genuinely want to know what she thinks. I want to know what she’s doing and there’s a lot about her that I still don’t know. I married up!”