- - Tim Daly Says He Fell in Love with Téa Leoni 'Four Minutes' After Meeting Her on the Set of “Madam Secretary ”

Alex RossDecember 10, 2025 at 1:37 AM

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D Dipasupil/FilmMagic From Left: Tim Daly and Téa Leoni at the 12th annual UNICEF Snowflake Ball on Nov. 29, 2016 -

Tim Daly is opening up about his relationship with wife Téa Leoni

PEOPLE confirmed that the couple got married during an intimate family ceremony in New York in July

Daly says he asked Leoni to marry him nine years ago after they first met in 2014 on the set of their CBS political drama Madam Secretary

It was love at first sight for Tim Daly and Téa Leoni.

In a new interview with LifeMinute, Daly, 69, opened up about his relationship with Leoni, 59, whom he married in July after the pair first met on the set of their CBS show Madam Secretary in 2014.

"Well, I actually asked Téa to marry me, I think, about nine years ago, and she said, 'Yes, let's just wait a minute.' Then nine years later, she asked me, and I was like, 'Yeah, I already asked!' So anyway, we got it done," he said, smiling. "I like being married to Téa."

David M. Russell/CBS

From Left: Tea Leoni and Tim Daly on 'Madam Secretary'

Daly and Leoni played husband and wife Henry and Elizabeth McCord in the political drama, which aired for six seasons from September 2014 to December 2019.

"Every time people said we had great chemistry, I was like, 'Yeah, no s---!' It was funny because our first season, we were supposedly trying to keep it quiet, be on the down low," he recalled. "But the teamsters were picking us up at each other's house all the time and we were looking at each other with goo goo eyes."

The couple eventually made their red carpet debut at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, D.C., in April 2015.

But when asked when he first realized he was in love with his costar, Daly didn't hesitate. "God, about four minutes after I met her at the office of Madam Secretary," he said.

Patrick Harbron/CBS via Getty

From Left: Tim Daly and Tea Leoni on 'Madam Secretary'

The couple actually went to the same high school, ten years apart. As fate would have it, they'd met twice before 2014 — albeit briefly, said Daly. "I was doing a fundraiser when I was doing Wings. I was at Paramount, and she was there as a smoking hot 23-year-old. And I didn't pay her any mind 'cause I was in the midst of all kinds of stuff," he said.

"And then I met her again because her then-husband [David Duchovny] was friends with my first cousin, so I had just kind of shaken her hand a couple times," he continued. "And then Madam Secretary happened, and she just kind of caught me in her tractor beam and I was terrified. I was like, 'Oh my God.' Anyway, it was quick."

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Kris Connor/FilmMagic

From Left: Tim Daly and Tea Leoni at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 25, 2015

Calling their relationship "true intimacy," the Creative Coalition president noted that he and Leoni talk about everything, "including the bad stuff."

"I've recently started to try to have some gratitude for the things that have been really challenging and painful because I wouldn't be here without all that stuff. And so being able to share all of that with my partner is a relief. It just creates an atmosphere of real trust," said Daly, who currently stars alongside Leanne Morgan on Netflix's sitcom Leanne.

And, Daly wasn't the only one in the relationship who fell head over heels, either. "If [Téa] were here she would tell this story, but she was still at this little boarding school in Vermont, the Putney School, when I made Diner. And it was a little bit of a splash because this kid from this school is in this movie that's getting attention," he said.

The actor added, "And she saw the movie, and she told her roommate that she was gonna marry me someday, having never met me. She gets what she wants!"

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”