Adam Brody Calls Wife Leighton Meester His 'Moral Compass' in Rare Personal Interview

Plus, the actor reveals how they first met 15 years ago.

Adam Brody couldn't say enough good things about his wife, Leighton Meester, during an appearance on Anna Faris' podcast, Unqualified.

The former The O.C. star, 41, rarely talks about his personal life, but in his conversation with Faris, he opened up about how he and 34-year-old Meester first met and what he admires so much about her. Brody shared that he met the Gossip Girl star at Canter's Deli in Los Angeles 15 years ago, when she was there dining with the cast of the iconic teen show. The two were introduced by producer Josh Schwartz, who aside from Gossip Girl, also produced The O.C. They then ran into each other a number of times over the years and eventually worked together on the 2011 film The Oranges, though Brody was dating someone else at the time. Still, he acknowledged that he was always attracted to her.

"I was very attracted to her from the jump," he said. "She's a heavenly creature."

"I thought she was gorgeous," he continued. "And even when we did the movie, there was chemistry there, but I was seeing someone."

When Brody was single again a year later, the two got together. He also admitted that he at first made assumptions about Meester due to her character on Gossip Girl, Blair Waldorf.

"And come to find out she's literally like Joan of Arc," he said. "She's like, the strongest, best person I know. She is my moral compass and North Star, and I just can't say enough good things about her character. It's crazy."

"Nobody has said a bad thing about her," he added. "She's never been rude to, like, a single person in her life, except -- and I give her credit for this -- paparazzi, where I'm too self-conscious. I wouldn't say rude, but like, people will try to get her to sign some sexy old photo or something that aren't fans but they pretend to be fans … and, forgive me, it's sort of a bottom-feeding thing … She has no problem being like, 'You can hate me. I don't care.' But no genuine person has a bad thing to say about her."

Brody and Meester have been married since 2014, and are extremely private about their two children -- 5-year-old daughter Arlo, and a son they welcomed last year. The actor got real about making compromises for his wife.

"Marriage, you know, and being an adult and having a family, it was a new frontier for me," Brody said. "Where, before that, I kind of felt, like, I don't have to change. ... I do understand now -- it's still a struggle -- but that it's healthy to kind of adjust a few things ... but also, compromises that need to be made if you're going to share a life with someone. And it doesn't all have to be negative."

ET spoke with Brody in October, where he talked about the possibility of an O.C. reunion. Watch the video below for more.

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