Chris Pratt reflects on meeting wife at church, how she helped 'save' him: 'God has a fast-forward button'
Hollywood star and outspoken Christian Chris Pratt recently opened up about meeting his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, at church and how she helped “save” him amid his brokenness.
“There was a moment in my life when I was really struggling and felt really broken,” Pratt said during a recent appearance on "The Drew Barrymore Show." “For me, my own journey, (it was about) finding a higher power and leaning on that and being like, ‘Please save me,’ and then feeling saved.”
It was during this time that the actor met Schwarzenegger at church, where he was sitting in the front row.
“I was in the front row of church — which is like, you kind of don’t want to be like, ‘Woah, who’s that?’ at church. You know what I mean?” Pratt told Barrymore. “But I was sneaking some glances and wondering, ‘Who is that? Anyway, what am I doing? Come on, I’m broken, help me. But who’s that?’”
Pratt and Schwarzenegger were married in 2019 and now have two daughters together.
The actor said he believes that their love story was all part of God’s plan and that sometimes love can happen quickly when it’s right.
“It made sense. You know when you’re doing a puzzle and there’s a piece, and you’re like, ‘I’m certain that’s the piece,’ and then you jam it, and it looks like it should be the piece (but then) you’re like, ‘Oh it’s that one,’” he explained. “It just fits together. You’re like, ‘Oh, it fits because it was the piece that was made to fit there.’ It felt like that.”
“God has a fast-forward button,” he added. “When it’s right — boom! — you’re hit. You fall in love, you get married.”
The 43-year-old actor has been open about his Christian beliefs and how they have guided him throughout his life. Pratt and his family attend Zoe Church, pastored by Chad Veach.
Pratt told Esquire magazine in 2014 that he was introduced to religion as a rebellious teenager in Maui, Hawaii, by a complete stranger. He also shared how his faith sustained him when, during his first marriage with Anna Faris, their son, Jack, was born five months premature and with significant health issues.
In a recent Instagram post, the “Jurassic Park” actor reflected on a speech he gave after accepting the Generation Award at the MTV Movie & TV Awards in which he imparted biblical wisdom, saying he “wouldn’t change a thing” about his message.
The advice included: “You have a soul, be careful with it. God is real. God loves you. God wants the best for you; believe that, I do. Learn to pray. It's easy, and it is so good for your soul. Grace is a gift. Like the freedom that we enjoy in this country, that grace was paid for with somebody else's blood. Do not forget that. Don't take that for granted.”
Pratt has faced a fair amount of backlash for his faith.
In 2019, actress Ellen Page, who now identifies as Elliot Page, claimed in a tweet that Pratt’s church was “infamously anti-LGBTQ.”
Pratt later denied the allegation in an Instagram story: “It has recently been suggested that I belong to a church which ‘hates a certain group of people’ and is ‘infamously anti-LGBTQ.’ Nothing could be further from the truth.”
The actor told the AP that he feels compelled to share his faith so publicly because of the current state of the world, as well as "what I'm feeling called to do right now."
"That kind of a message, it might not be for everybody. But there is a group of people for whom that message is designed," he said. "And nothing fills my soul more than to think that maybe some kid watching that would say, 'Hey, I've been thinking about that. I've been thinking about praying. Let me try that out.'"
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: leah.klett@christianpost.com