Adrien Brody Surprised Elsa Pataky With a Castle on Her Birthday

Who

Oscar-winning actor Adrien Brody, 49, and Fast & Furious actress Elsa Pataky, 46.

How They Met

Brody reportedly told Hello! magazine that he and Pataky met through their mutual dialect coach, Julie Adams. "It was a miracle," Brody said. "The first time I saw her I was completely spellbound. I told Elsa later that I was so uncomfortable because she was so beautiful and so lovely and sweet. I became very self-conscious."

Brody claimed to remember "everything" about the chance meeting. "I remember what she wore, and I remember she had a cute little convertible, and I was like, 'Wow! She even has a cute car!'"

"When we met … my previous relationship had just ended and Adrien was single too," Pataky recalled in the same Hello article. "It was fate."

By 2006 they were red carpet official.

By 2007 they were … buying rings?

During a Chopard event in N.Y.C. (which they attended because "they invited us"), Brody told reporters that he and Pataky had found a "really beautiful pair of rings." When asked the significance of said rings (promise rings? Engagement rings?), Pataky played coy. "No, we keep [those things] secret," she said. "It's just a memento for us. Very private."

Why We Loved Them

I know we use the idiom "can't keep their hands off each other" pretty freely these days, but in this case we mean it literally. Like, it could be medical. Can Brody keep his hands to himself? My 16 pages of photo research indicate that no, he cannot.

When They Peaked

OK, here we go.

In 2007, Brody surprised Pataky on her birthday with … wait for it … A CASTLE. But before you begin constructing mental images of his and hers thrones, know that the aforementioned castle was located in upstate New York.

Anyway, the extravagance did not end there. In addition to the outsize historical birthday gift, the following year Brody and Pataky celebrated their love (and new home) with a 35-page spread in Hello! magazine.

The spread in question really must be seen to be believed. We have Brody sitting shirtless in a bathtub (which is inexplicably in a bedroom?), script-in-hand, smiling lovingly at a men's shirt-clad Pataky; Brody and Pataky on horseback, the former bridging the gap between their respective steeds by kissing his girlfriend's hand; Brody playing big spoon as he cozies up to Pataky on the sprawling lawn of their 19th-century estate — you know, the classic "we bought a castle" shot.

Rest assured, the article was not without its share of appropriately cheesy anecdotes. At one point, Brody squeezes Pataky's hand and asks her, "Do you remember when we were at a party in Cannes, and a woman sitting behind us told us, 'Thank you for making me believe in love again'?" I'm sorry, do people in real life say things like that?

"We both feel really blessed to have found someone that we not only love, that we are deeply attracted to, but also who shares similar views on life," Brody told the magazine. "Elsa has brought so much positive energy into my life."

The Breakup

In mid-2009, less than a year after the infamous Hello article made its round on the gossip blogs, speculation that Brody and Pataky had split gained momentum. And then, well, Pataky married an Avenger.

Neither party has said much about the split, but Brody was forced to sort of kind of address it in 2015 when he released a documentary about renovating his castle — yes, that castle.

"The sharing of certain things that are personal is a challenge," Brody told HuffPost of Stone Barn Castle, which includes footage of him and Pataky. "I believe the film represents this universal feeling we all have: We are all looking for a sense of home, we all have dreams and aspirations, and then life sometimes does not happen the way we expect it to. There are many blessings within all of that and there are obstacles to overcome. My life has been enriched by all these beautiful people who have been in my life. Therefore, sharing my own good fortune of these experiences is a beautiful thing. So I have to overlook certain aspects of it. I've got nothing to hide. All of this is an authentic part of the journey and I could not tell the story without all the elements in it."

That's as much of a post-mortem as we're going to get, folks.

Where They Are Now

Brody has reportedly been dating Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman since early 2020. The pair made their red carpet debut at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival premiere of Clean.

The actor is working on a few projects, including two films in production: The Salamander Lives Twice and Manodrome. He will appear as Pat Riley in an HBO Max limited series on the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers.

As previously mentioned, Pataky wed Chris Hemsworth in late 2010. The couple share three children: India and twins Tristan and Sasha.

Pataky teamed up with brother-in-law Liam Hemsworth for her latest film, Poker Face, slated for release in November 2022.