When Michelle Pfeiffer began dating her husband, she had just adopted a child. She called it 'perfectly timed'.

In the early 1990s, actor Michelle Pfeiffer and television writer David E. Kelley went on a blind date to a bowling alley. There was an instant connection.

"I was kind of nervous and I'd had a couple of bad blind dates and I had sworn off of them, and my best friend said, 'Please, just this last time, meet this guy, David Kelley.' I said, okay'," she said recently on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. 

"So I thought it was a good idea to do like a bowling party."

At the same time as they began dating, Pfeiffer was keen on starting a family for herself. At the time she was 35, and had always wanted to adopt a child. So she started the lengthy process. 

She adopted daughter Claudia Rose in 1993, who was an infant at the time. 

"The adoption process was already in motion when [Kelley] and I met," Pfeiffer told Good Housekeeping in 2007. "So when she came, he and I had only been together for about two months. So we had this child with us right away, and most people don't have that. But I really got to see him in a situation that certainly would separate the boys from the men."

Watch: Charlize Theron on adopting her daughters. Story continues below.

Fortunately, Pfeiffer said Kelley "rose to the occasion", and made her realise that their relationship could go the distance.

"We both got to see each other as parents before we progressed in our relationship together, and in a strange way, it took the pressure off, as a couple. It was sort of perfectly timed. I mean, it's a real testament to the kind of person he is, but also to the fact that sometimes the traditional way of doing things isn't always the best way."

In November 1993, Pfeiffer and Kelley married. That same year, Kelley officially adopted Claudia as his daughter as well.

Then in 1994, Pfeiffer gave birth to their second child, a son called John Henry. 

With the kids close in age, Pfeiffer said they got on very well but had different interests.

"When they were little, they couldn't have been more different - John was into trucks and Claudia was into kitty cats, and he was eating bugs and she wasn't. But I just feel like I've been so blessed to have these two children."

Throughout the early 2000s, Pfeiffer didn't star in as many projects as she once had, explaining to The New Yorker that she took time away from Hollywood to raise her family alongside Kelley. 

"Raising kids is just consuming, and before I knew it three and a half years had gone by, and then it was five years... Then I must have been hankering to work again because I started thinking about it, and then my kids were ready for me to go back to work. They call the shots!"

But for a long time, Pfeiffer's two kids didn't know just how famous their mother really was. And it was a deliberate decision, although one Pfeiffer said she would now choose differently.

"I actually went overboard in separating the kids from my work, so much so that they found out through their friends how famous I was. At a certain age, I remember my daughter's friends coming to her and asking her about certain movies, and she came home and she started asking me. I realised I'd really done her a disservice in an effort to try and protect her," she said during the interview. 

"The world knew more about my work than she did, and the world knew about a huge part of who I am, and she didn't."

Michelle Pfeiffer with her son John who was born in 1994, and her and her husband David E. Kelley today. Image: Getty/Instagram @michellepfeifferofficial.

Now back into the swing of things, Pfeiffer said she has loved working in film again, but has no plans to work alongside her TV and film writer husband. Kelley is most well known for creating hits such as Ally McBeal, Boston Legal, The Practice, Big Little Lies, and The Undoing.

"I've seen a lot of couples where they seem to have a really great marriage, and then they work together and next year they're filing for divorce," she explained.

And over the years in various interviews, Pfeiffer has explained that she dislikes it when her daughter Claudia is referred to as her "adopted daughter" rather than just her daughter.

"As a mother of both an adopted child and my own birth child, there is absolutely no difference in the huge amount of love I feel for both my children. I always knew I wanted to adopt a child and also have one of my own. There is no difference at all," she said to People.

Another point of contention for Pfeiffer has been the fact she adopted a child of colour, saying she was "shocked at the prejudice voice in some quarters over my decision to adopt a mixed-race baby".

Claudia is now 29, and John is 28.

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A post shared by Michelle Pfeiffer (@michellepfeifferofficial)

Recently, Pfeiffer also started a new fragrance line, called Henry Rose - the middle names of her children.

In November 2022, Pfeiffer and Kelley celebrated their 29th wedding anniversary.

"I chose really well with David. I got really lucky. I never take him for granted. I've never met a person who has more integrity than my husband. I respect that. There's his humour and intelligence, too, and he's really cute, all those things - but if you don't respect your partner, you'll get sick of him," she said to Parade.

And all these years later, Pfeiffer said that daughter continues to amaze her.

"Boy, there's nothing typical about my girl," Pfeiffer told Good Housekeeping about Claudia. 

"She's a force to be reckoned with, and an amazing human being. I wanted her to be a really independent, outspoken young woman, and I sure got that! She's also very creative and inquisitive. She's everything I'd hoped she would be."

Feature Image: Getty.

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