IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Target’s version of 'The Tortured Poets Department' contains two special poems: Read and shop them here

Sarah Michelle Gellar commemorates 1st date with Freddie Prinze Jr. in throwback pic

They owe it all to a pal who didn't show up for dinner.
/ Source: TODAY
By Randee Dawn

Most happily married couples celebrate their wedding anniversary. Some celebrate the anniversary of the day they met. But on Friday, Sarah Michelle Gellar decided to celebrate a different anniversary with her beloved husband, Freddie Prinze Jr.: the day of their first date.

Their first date wasn't even supposed to be a date, according to the caption in the photo she posted on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B7_gvXLDqFs

Alongside the then-and-now photos of the couple, Gellar wrote, "20 years ago this week, my friend @realfreddieprinze and I were supposed to have dinner with a mutual friend from out of town. That friend missed her flight, but we decided to still meet and catch up.

Gellar continued, "Now 20 years together, 17 plus married and two kids, we still go to that restaurant for dinner. So thank you @sloaney77 for not showing up for dinner," referring to publicist Leslie Sloane Zelnick.

Prinze, 43, and Gellar, 42, met while shooting "I Know What You Did Last Summer" in 1997, but didn't start dating until three years later. They got engaged in 2001 and wed in 2002 in Mexico and now have two children: Charlotte, 10, and Rocky, 7.

They also went on to star opposite one another in 2002's "Scooby-Doo" and 2004's "Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed." In 2007, Gellar officially changed her name to Sarah Michelle Prinze, but we still know her best by her maiden name.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6yRl8WDux_

It's the second time Gellar has shared a photo of her and Prinze this month on Instagram. In a New Year's Day post, she captioned a photo of the two of them, "Happy New Year from us to you!!!!!! May your troubles last as long as your New Years resolutions!"

"I think the truth of any relationship is that, whether you're a couple, whether you're friends, whether you're business partners, is you have to put the work into a relationship," the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" star told Us Weekly last year. "We live in a very disposable society and people don't want to have to work. They want immediate reactions, they want immediate responses. It takes work."

Looks to us like it's working quite well.

Randee Dawn

Randee Dawn (she/her) is an entertainment journalist and author based in Brooklyn. In addition to writing for TODAY.com, Variety and The Los Angeles Times, her debut novel, Tune in Tomorrow, about a reality TV show run by mythic creatures, published in 2022. She's also the co-author of The Law & Order: SVU Unofficial Companion. When not interviewing the stars or dabbling in speculative fiction, she dreams of the next place she can travel to, or cuddles her Westie. More at RandeeDawn.com.