Jill Wagner Shares Her Real-Life Rom-Com Story: ‘God Brought Us Together’
- Michael Foust Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
- Updated Dec 20, 2024
Actress Jill Wagner has made a name for herself in family-friendly romantic comedies, but her real-life romance to her husband David has many of the elements of those heartwarming stories.
They dated early in life. They went their separate ways. And then they got back together. Toss in a small town and a farm – both are part of their real-life plot – and it has all the elements of a Christmas rom-com.
“We were living in our own movie,” Wagner told Crosswalk Headlines, laughing.
Jill and David recount that and other stories in a Dec. 23 Great American Family special, Christmas at the Farm with Jill Wagner and Family, where they celebrate Christmas with friends and family on their East Tennessee farm.
“God brought us together,” David says in the special. “He chose the right time.”
The couple first met when she was 17, going on a handful of dates before he moved to Canada, leaving her “devastated,” she said.
“He never called me.”
When Wagner was in her mid-30s, they bumped into one another in – of all places – Afghanistan.
“I went to Afghanistan on a USO tour. He just happens to be on one of the 12 bases that we went to,” she said. “But I was dating somebody, he was dating somebody. So it was just like a quick, ‘Wow, great to see you in this weird place in the world.’”
Three years after Afghanistan, they bumped into one another in Los Angeles.
“We kind of knew at that point. We were like, ‘Okay, there's a reason this keeps happening.’ And then three months after that, we were engaged and then quickly married, and moved from L.A. that same year and renovated this house, and then got pregnant. Everything happened so quickly, but it was the most incredible time. I still look back at that time and think, did that actually happen?
“It was a rom-com, and I'm gonna make that movie one day. I just have to find the right person to make it with. But it was truly incredible.”
The couple now live on a farm in Tellico Plains that is a focus of the Great American Family special.
“For 20 years, when I lived in Los Angeles, it never quite felt like home. But this land, this farm, feels like home,” Wagner told Crosswalk Headlines. “... Now that I have children, I want that for them. I think it's really important that they grow up around people that they know and that help them and that they can help.”
A restored chapel is her favorite part of the property. It was in rough shape, she said, when they moved to the farm.
“I promised God, I said, ‘If we get this property, I promise I will restore this.’ And we just got through restoring it this year. …You go in there when you need quiet and you pray. And I think it's very important for David and I to be able to teach our kids that that is a place that they can go in 24/7. I hope it's going to become a really important staple in their life.”
Photo Credit: Great American Family
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
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