Bonnie Hunt Felt ’25 Again’ When She Met Flirty Taylor Kinney — but Reason Behind His Introduction Left Her Speechless

Bonnie Hunt’s initial first impression of Taylor Kinney made her blush.

During a recent appearance on The Talk, Cheaper By The Dozen actress, 63, recalled back to the first time she met the 43-year-old Chicago Fire star — and the butterflies that filled her stomach after their introduction.

“You know the guy that was engaged to Lady Gaga who’s on Chicago Fire?” the Red One actress began. “So I meet him in Chicago at a fundraiser for, like, you know, medical research. And he’s kind of talking to me, and I’m like, ‘Is he flirting with me or am I imagining it?’ I’m like, ‘I hope so!’ So I think about this for a while and then the event’s over, but he talked to me and stuff.”

A year and a half later, the two ran into each other at another charity event.

“He says ‘Bonnie, hi.’ He goes, ‘Gosh, I’ve been thinking about you since I saw you,'” she continued as the audience laughed. “I’m like, ‘I knew it! He’s flirting with me.’ He says, ‘But I didn’t have your number, and I couldn’t contact you.'”

“I’m telling you guys, my whole body changed,” Hunt gushed, “All the sudden, I was 25 again.”

But what came next quickly brought Hunt back down to Earth.

“And he says to me, ‘I wanted to call you because I thought maybe you could play my mom on the show,'” she finished.

While it’s no surprise that Kinney’s charm and good looks were able to sweep Hunt off her feet, the Shameless star is officially off the market.

In May, a rep for Kinney exclusively told PEOPLE that the actor got married to model Ashley Cruger on April 30 “in a small, private ceremony in Chicago,” where he recently wrapped shooting season 12 of his hit NBC drama.

Kinney and Cruger have been together since 2022, with the actor sharing his first photo of his love on Instagram in March of that year.

The couple officially went public with their relationship that April when they attended a charity event together in Utah. Cruger then debuted Kinney on her Instagram account the same month, posting a photo of them attending a race in Texas.