"Don't let your past dictate who you are, but let it be part of who you will become."
Those are Dear Abby's famous words, quoted by Nick Portokalos in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. About 14 years later, those same words would certainly ring true for Nia Vardalos, who co-wrote the original and now the sequel, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2.
E! News caught up with Vardalos and co-star John Corbett, who plays her onscreen husband, who explained how and why the sequel came to be. At the end of the first movie, fans will recall that Toula (Vardalos) married Ian (Corbett).
"I was in the quest to be a mom, and I had written that we were parents at the end of the first movie and yet it was so difficult for me to become a mom, so I stepped away...and tried to become a mom," Vardalos told us.
Although Vardalos and her husband had difficulties conceiving, they were ultimately able to get pregnant. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 follows Toula and her loud family as they try to plan her mother's wedding, all while having to struggle with the fact that Toula's daughter might be moving far away for college.
"On my daughter's first day of kindergarten I got the idea for the sequel and started writing," she added.
Now we know where the inspiration for Toula's daughter moving away came from!
In the years that have passed for Corbett, a lot has changed yet there is plenty that has stayed the same. After the original film was released in 2002 Corbett went on to meet Bo Derek. They've been in a relationship ever since but haven't tied the knot.
"I'm not a father. I've never been married," he admitted, "but I still have some of the same clothes and motorcycles and boots. Things like that kind of stay the same."
He was quick to note that Vardalos' life has changed immensely.
"I have very little time for myself and I'm so grateful for that," she dished. "I just love every aspect of being able to be a working female in the industry, and I'm never ever going to take that much time in between things, but I'm so glad I did...Everything that went wrong biologically...led me to my real daughter."
Universal Pictures' My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 hits theaters March 25.
(E! and Universal Pictures are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)