Thunderstorms, COVID-19 and partying teenagers couldn't stop Norman Reedus from proposing to Diane Kruger.
While The Walking Dead star popped the question to the National Treasure actress in Aug. 2021, he's recently shared how his plans for an elaborate proposal were foiled—multiple times—resulting in a sweetly simple moment.
Admitting that the ring was "burning a hole in his pocket," while on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Oct. 4, he explained that he tried to propose while on a motorcycle trip in Savannah, Ga., but the couple ran into some obstacles.
"We get there and there were tons of drunk teenagers with no masks on," he said, noting that it was during the height of the pandemic, "so we really didn't go out."
The 53-year-old actor continued, "I was looking for some place really pretty to do it, but there was a huge thunderstorm that hit us."
The next morning he was back at home with the daughter he shares with Kruger, Nova Tennessee, 3, on his lap.
"I felt bad that I didn't do it," he revealed. Reedus told Jimmy Kimmel that he turned to Kruger and asked, "'Can you go get my boot? It's in the closet.' She's like, 'Why?' I'm like, 'I just want to look at the boot.' 'Cause I had it shoved in the boot."
He added that he then popped the question. "And then I proposed and she started crying, and then Nova started crying — everybody's crying. It was like water works city," he shared. "And then Nova goes, 'Why are we crying?' "Diane's going, 'It's happy tears!' And she's like, 'Yes! it's happy tears!'"
The couple welcomed Nova in November 2018 but kept details about their daughter private for years until May, when Kruger shared the meaning behind the little one's unique name. "'Nova' in Latin means new beginning, and a nova star keeps changing and is reborn," she told People. "And we love Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains; we do motorcycle trips there."
In addition to Nova, Reedus is also dad to son Mingus, 22, with his ex, model Helena Christensen.