Callum Turner admits he almost never met Dua Lipa the superstar fiancée he describes as ‘the most beautiful woman in the world’, Daily Mail reports.
The British actor’s engagement to Lipa was confirmed in June, with the singer putting an end to months of speculation by declaring the ‘decision to grow old together, to see a life and just, I don’t know, be best friends forever – it’s a really special feeling.’
But as they look to the long-term future, Callum Turner, 35, admits their initial introduction to one another came after a series of ‘sliding doors’ moments that almost resulted in them never meeting at all.
‘We had maybe two, three, four, five near misses over our time where we didn’t meet,’ he told The Times.
‘Mutual friends and places. There’s one where she went to a party and then I went to a party but I arrived minutes after she left.
‘I arrived at 2:00 in the morning and she left at 1.45 – she checked her Uber and I checked a photo I’d taken opposite my friend’s house when I arrived.
‘There were loads of things like that and then, when we were both able to, we were both single and whatever, I just thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world.’
Callum Turner recalled how they sparked up an instantaneous connection during drinks for a mutual friend’s birthday, when they were sat next to each other and realised they were both one chapter into reading the same novel, Hernan Diaz’s Trust.
He said: ‘In the movie version of it I look up to the sky and I’m like, I hear you. I understand. The signs are loud, don’t worry. And that was really the first [moment].’
One of the biggest pop stars in the world, Lipa, 30, is currently travelling the United States for the North American leg of her global Radical Optimism Tour, which is set to close in December.
Asked about the difficulty of maintaining a long-distance relationship and planning a wedding with the busy schedules, Turner insisted that the pair are able to make it work with their simple rule of ‘it’s never not worth it’.
He said: ‘Well FaceTime is a wonderful thing. And the other rule is that it’s never not worth it – that’s our slogan. If you can go for two days, just f***ing go.
‘And if you’re tired, it doesn’t matter because you’re going to have a nice time and have a nice memory.’
The Masters of The Air star also explained how he views ‘true love’ and knows that he has it with Lipa, admitting he sees it as an ‘amalgamation of the little and big things’.
He said: ‘I think true love is moments, consistency. It can’t be just one grand, sweeping thing. It’s all the little things and big things together, it’s an amalgamation, right? I think that’s what true love is.’
Confirming their engagement to British Vogue over the summer, Lipa said: ‘It’s very exciting. This decision to grow old together, to see a life and just, I don’t know, be best friends forever – it’s a really special feeling.’
In an August interview with Harper’s Bazaar, she admitted to ‘intensely falling’ for Turner, with whom she is prepared to be ‘vulnerable’ and open her heart to love, even though it is ‘so scary’.
She said: ‘I love love. It is a beautiful thing. It’s a really inspiring thing. You find yourself so intensely falling all the time in the best way possible. That vulnerability is so scary, but I feel so lucky to get to feel it.
‘I’ve spent a lot of time being guarded or protecting my heart, and so I’m letting go of that feeling and just being like, “Okay, if I’m supposed to get hurt, then this is what’s going to happen.” I have to just allow love.
When asked how it feels to be speaking so candidly about her relationship, she said: ‘I’m happier than ever, so it feels like I’m doing a disservice by not talking about it.’
‘When you’re a public person, anything that’s very personal is very vulnerable. It’s not like I don’t want to share it.’