Mad Men actor and newly minted husband Jon Hamm has got real about why he decided to tie the knot with his partner - after long saying he didn't believe in the tradition of marriage.
Hamm, 52, wed actress Anna Osceola, 35, at Anderson Canyon in Big Sur, California on Saturday (local time), mere months after announcing their engagement.
The decision to say "I do" has come as a shock to some loyal fans of the star, who has been vocal in the past about marriage being "meaningless" to him due to his parents' divorce.
"My parents got divorced when I was two and never remarried. So, it doesn't mean anything to me," he said in an interview with Playboy in 2012, adding that he'd never had "a particularly defined example of marriage" in his life.
"I don't mean to say that it shouldn't mean things to other people. I'm not judging it one way or another.
"It's just my experience," he continued. "I don't have that paragon of married life to look at and think, 'Oh yeah, that's it! That's what I want!'"
He also told the outlet he didn't "have a driving force" to become a father at the time, but noted: "That said, I'm in a committed relationship, and if it ever came up, I'm not ruling it out."
In 2008, Hamm also commented on the nature of his long-term relationship with actress and screenwriter Jennifer Westfeldt. The two split in 2015 after 18 years of dating.
"We may not have a piece of paper that says we're husband and wife, but after 10 years, Jennifer is more than just a girlfriend. What we have is much deeper and we both know that," Hamm said at the time to the New York Post.
"To me, people get married when they're ready to have kids, which I'm not ruling out."
However, Hamm has clearly had a change of heart as of late, proposing to his now-wife Osceola in February this year after two years of dating.
"[Marriage] is the thing that leads to the next thing [in] life, and that's what I hope - and it's the journey, and it's exciting," he said on the latest episode of Bruce Bozzi's Table for Two podcast.
He later shared: "This is the exciting part of life, and it's a signpost and a signifier of the next chapter and phase.
"Ideally, it gives you and your partner a sense of stability and comfort and an identifying capacity that is better, deeper, richer than 'it's my girlfriend' or 'my boyfriend' or what have you."
As for the next step, Hamm hinted that having children may also be on the cards, saying it was still "TBD".
The couple met in 2015 on the set of the Mad Men finale and tied the knot in the same location they filmed the series' final episode.
The actor has racked up an extensive filmography over his career, appearing in the likes of Bridesmaids, Baby Driver, and Top Gun: Maverick. He became a household name for his role as Don Draper in Mad Men, for which he won two Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor in a Television Series - Drama, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.
He is currently filming Mean Girls: The Musical, playing Coach Carr ("Do not have sex - you will get pregnant"), and will next appear in the black comedy Maggie Moore(s), directed by his Mad Men co-star John Slattery.
In April, actor Marques Houston, who starred in the likes of Fat Albert and the classic 2000s dance film You Got Served, came under fire for explaining why dating older women hadn't worked for him in the past - citing their "baggage", "different outlook on life", and likelihood of having children from previous relationships - after marrying a woman 20 years his junior.
