Gwyneth Paltrow‘s romance with Brad Pitt began before they ever crossed paths.

The Oscar winner shared rare details on her romance with the Mr. & Mrs. Smith star, divulging that although she dated him in the ‘90s while in her early 20s, her crush on Pitt first formed after watching him onscreen.

“I grew up, I remember seeing Thelma & Louise in the movie theater,” Paltrow told Benny Blanco and Lil Dicky on Friends Keep Secrets Sept. 8, “and being like, ‘That is the most handsome man.'”

Eventually fate would lead Paltrow—who shares kids Apple, 22, and Moses, 20, with ex Chris Martin—to meet her crush in real life when they played a married couple in David Fincher‘s 1995 thriller, Se7en.

“I get cast in the movie with Brad, and I met him on set,” Paltrow shared. “We had kind of a love at first sight thing. It was pretty awesome. It was really fun.”

As such, the actress never questioned their natural connection despite their difference in years, crediting Pitt’s handsome looks as a part of the equation. “No, because he was so beautiful,” the Sliding Doors star explained of why she wasn’t bothered by their age gap. “I think he was 31 and I was 22.”