'He Definitely Wasn't Boyfriend Material': Carey Mulligan Vividly Recalls Meeting Her Husband

It was love at first sight — for people other than Carey Mulligan and Marcus Mumford .

Mulligan, who has been married to the Mumford & Sons singer for over a decade, revealed on this week’s episode of the “Smartless ” podcast that she didn’t even consider him an option when they first met — which astoundingly occurred at summer camp.

“We were friends when we were kids, so we went to camp together,” the actor said . “We met when he was 10 and I was 12 … We didn’t [hook up] but I wrote in my diary that he was the nicest, the kindest person I’d ever met, and I gave him 9 1/2 out of 10.”

“But I also wrote in my diary that he definitely wasn’t boyfriend material,” she added. “I mean, not that I’d ever had a boyfriend at that time, but I decided that he was not it.”

Mulligan said she and Mumford became pen pals “for a couple of years” but lost touch before the world got a little smaller.

“Then the internet happened and we — God, the internet happened — and we started [reconnecting],” she said. “We were both on Facebook for like six months … so we touched base there briefly. Then we met again when I was like 24.”

Mulligan said it was “weird” that she and Mumford were both hired independently “not long after,” reuniting as adults to work on the Coen Brothers ’ “Inside Llewyn Davis ” (2013). 

The podcast’s hosts — fellow actors Jason Bateman , Sean Hayes and Will Arnett — were surprised that the couple first met as children. For Arnett, the synchronicity of these countless run-ins was just too much to fathom.

When he asked if they ever felt like they were “destined” to be together, Mulligan jokingly recalled thinking: “We probably should get married, yeah.” The couple did just that in 2012 and now reportedly share three children together. 

Listen to the full episode on YouTube , Spotify or Apple Podcasts .