Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka’s love story: How their relationship began

He was known as a womaniser on How I Met Your Mother, but in real life, Neil Patrick Harris is one man’s man.

Harris says his husband, actor and chef David Burtka, is “all (he’s) ever known”.

“I don’t know anything different,” he told Entertainment Tonight, “and I’m super happy. I’m very grateful.”

Their love story began with a fateful encounter on the streets of New York in 2004.

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Harris ran into a friend, Kate, who was with a “brooding, James Dean–type guy in a leather jacket who gave me the head nod and then turned away,” Harris recalled to Out Magazine in a piece co-written with his now-husband.

Unfortunately, Kate let him know Burtka was in a long-term committed relationship – though unbeknown to Harris, it was “sort of on the rocks”.

Not one to be discouraged, Harris kept tabs on him without “creating some sort of romantic interference”.

“I was always around when he was around, hoping the stars would align.”

One week after Burtka’s relationship ended in 2004, he was on a movie date with Harris, after which Burtka says they “started hanging out every single night, and after three months, it was just non-stop.”

The couple moved to Los Angeles in 2005 when Harris booked the role of Barney Stinson on “How I Met Your Mother“, expecting it to be a short detour as they planned to go back to New York to raise their family.

Burtka had even made an appearance on the show, playing “Scooter”, the former high school boyfriend of Lily Aldrin – though no one was aware of the relationship he had with the leading man.

In 2006, as his popularity in the role of Barney Stinson soared, Harris publicly came out as gay in an interview with PEOPLE magazine amid “speculation and interest” in his private life and relationships.

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“I am happy to dispel any rumours or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business I love,” he stated at the time.

Harris’s stint on the iconic show spanned 10 years and nine seasons, ending in 2014.

That was also the year Harris and Burtka got married, as they were finally able to grab their chance after the Marriage Equality Act passed in New York State in 2011 – though they had been engaged for a number of years beforehand.

Burtka had taken Harris by surprise with his proposal in 2007, popping the question in the same spot they met back in 2004.

”David first proposed to me five years ago on the actual street corner where we met,” Harris wrote in his piece for Out Magazine.

“We were on our way to an event at an Indian casino 45 minutes out of town in a limousine, and David wanted to stop for some reason that I didn’t quite get. I thought he wanted to get some booze or something.

“And then he got on one knee and proposed, and I was so freaked out by it that I said, ‘Yes,’ but I didn’t know what it meant.

“Then I got the ring and loved it, and a year later, on Valentine’s Day, I proposed to him in Santa Monica.”

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The couple got married in Italy in “an intimate ceremony surrounded by their close friends and family,” according to PEOPLE.

Instrumental to their wedding were their twins, Harper and Gideon Burtka-Harris – who were then only three-and-a-half years old – not only in their presence at the ceremony, but also in the event happening at all.

“Our kids got to the age when they were having reasonable conversations where they’re asking lots of ‘Why?’ questions, then it seemed (important) to be able to have a real clear-cut (identity) of who their daddy is — that he’s my husband, it was easier than partner or boyfriend,” Harris shared in a 2014 appearance on The View.

But Burtka has clarified the couple’s relationship is not always perfect.

They have been open about attending couple’s counselling and are continuing to ride the wave of their relationship ups and downs.

Burtka told Life and Style magazine there is nothing wrong with their relationship, “but it’s nice to sort of just talk to someone who is a mediator. That’s helped our relationship.”

“I don’t want people to think we’re a perfect couple. Nothing’s perfect. A relationship is work and it changes. And you go with the changes,” Burtka wrote in his part of their Out Magazine essay.

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“It’s more good times than bad times, but it’s not always good. You have to overcome those issues and move on.

“We’re not trying to pretend that we are perfect. We’re just trying — in a good, positive, loving way — to live our lives.”

The couple just celebrated their eighth wedding anniversary, along with their 11-year old twins, their convoluted careers and a relationship that has spanned almost two decades.

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