Will Ferrell and Wife Viveca Paulin Had Early Breakup When It Was ‘Too Much Too Fast’ After They Met

The actor first met Paulin in an acting class in 1991 before they tied the knot in 2000

The course to true love wasn’t all smooth for Will Ferrell.

Speaking during the latest episode of Christina Applegate and Jamie-Lynn Sigler's MeSsy podcast on Tuesday, July 9, the actor, 56, revealed that he and his wife Viveca Paulin broke up in the early days of their relationship after things started moving too swiftly.

“It’ll be 24 years in August that we will have been married but we’ve known each other since the summer of 1991,” said Ferrell. “It’s one of those stories of, we met, at first we were both like, ‘Wait a minute, I really like this person,’ but it was kind of like too much too fast at too young, like the intensity level was like, ‘Oh woah.’ ”

“So we were just friends, we dated, but then we were just friends for five years and then kind of we circled back to each other,” he added.

Related: Will Ferrell Recalls Being 'So Embarrassed' by His Real Name Growing Up: 'It Wasn't My Choice'

“Maybe that’s the thing though you know, you guys seem like best friends when we were see you guys,” noted Applegate, 52, who starred in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy with Ferrell.

“Yeah,” agreed the Barbie star, before adding that he “lucked out” with Paulin, 55, and shouting out the place where the pair first laid eyes on each other.

“South Coast Repertory theatre in Costa Mesa, California where we did a summer professional conservatory program, and that’s where we met,” Ferrell said.

Related: Will Ferrell's 3 Kids: All About Sons Magnus, Mattias and Axel

The Despicable Me 4 star then went on to recall how he thought Applegate assumed he "was having marriage problems" while they were filming Anchorman.

"When we were shooting the movie, we would go out a lot socially," he said. "We would all go out as a group, like, on the weekends or whatever, grab a dinner. And, I was like, ‘Oh great, let's do it!’ And then Viveca kept having to cancel.”

"And you were like, ‘What's going on?’ " Ferrell continued, adding that Applegate "verbalized it later" and asked why his wife wasn't coming out with everyone.

“Oh gosh I don’t remember!” said Applegate while laughing.

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However, the reason for Paulin’s constant cancelations soon became clear.

"The reason was she wasn't feeling good because she was pregnant with Magnus,” explained Ferrell, adding that the couple was finally ready to share their news halfway through filming.

"'I knew something was up!' " Will recalled his costar saying, to which Applegate — who described Ferrell and Paulin as “couple goals across the board” —  responded, "It’s coming back to me a little bit. I remember that you guys had something you weren't sharing yet. Not something, a pregnancy obviously!”

Along with Magnus, now 20, the pair are also parents to Mattias, 17, and Axel, 14.

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