Chris Pratt was feeling something other than the Holy Spirit when he met Katherine Schwarzenegger in church.
Ahem. The "Super Mario Bros. Movie" star said he felt "broken" before quickly connecting with his second wife, the daughter of action star-turned-politician Arnold Schwarzenegger and ex-wife, journalist Maria Shriver. Pratt opened up about his and Katherine's meeting Tuesday during an interview on "The Drew Barrymore Show," equating the transformative moment in his life to a puzzle that needed that one missing piece to make sense.
"It fits because it's the piece that was made to fit there. And it felt like that," Pratt told host Drew Barrymore.
"God has a fast-forward button, you know, when it's right, boom. You get hit, you fall in love, you get married, now we have two beautiful daughters to add to my family and it feels really great," he said.
Pratt, 43, and the self-help book author, 33, married in 2019 after about a year of dating and have since welcomed two daughters, Lyla, 2, and Eloise, 11 months. Meanwhile, the action star has repeatedly taken heat for his religious beliefs — and dragged for his earnest social media displays — but has spoken highly of the Zoe Church's role in meeting his wife.
"There was a moment in my life that I was struggling and felt really broken," Pratt said. "For me, my own journey of finding a higher power and leaning on that and feeling and being like, 'Please save me,' and then feeling saved. And then shortly later meeting the woman of my dreams and being, 'Wow, this feels right.' It's all about timing.
"There's a perfect plan out there for you, and I think you just have to have faith," he said. "And the minute you have faith, it falls into place."
Pratt also quipped about how it felt strange to check someone out at church, where he was sitting in the front row.
"You kind of don't want to be like, 'Whoa, who's that?' at church," he explained. "But I was kind of like sneaking some glances and I'm wondering, 'Who is that?' [thinking] 'Anyway, what am I doing? Come on, I'm broken, help me. But who's that?' So we hit it off. We didn't start dating right away, but we met there and then, later on, ended up going out."
The former "Parks and Recreation" TV star said it was a very quick connection "that all made sense."
Pratt had been coming down from a high-profile divorce from "Mom" star Anna Faris when he met Schwarzenegger. The former couple, who share 10-year-old son, Jack, shocked fans when they announced their separation in August 2017 after eight years of marriage and finalized the split in 2018. Opening up about the divorce in 2021, Faris said on her podcast that she felt her "hand was forced" in the breakup and did not think "it was ever an independent decision."
But time has appeared to help mend their relationship as co-parents. Faris wed cinematographer Michael Barrett in 2021 and told People in November that she's getting much closer with Pratt and Schwarzenegger (whom she called "awesome") and is happy with the trajectory for their blended families.
"They're very protective of me, and I want to be very protective of them. I so appreciate their support," she said of Pratt and Schwarzenegger, adding, "and it feels just much easier now that time has passed. It feels really good to not live with that internal churning of unpleasantness."
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