Dave Franco and Alison Brie relationship timeline explored as former opens up on awkward proposal to wife

Dave Franco, during his recent appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden, recalled his proposal to his wife Alison Brie as he looks forward to celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary.

The duo met during the 2011 Mardi Gras event in New Orleans, for which Brie wore a silver mask throughout the weekend. Franco told Corden,

"I would try to take it (the mask) from her, she wouldn't let me take it. It was this playful back-and-forth."

Before leaving New Orleans, Brie left a note for Franco, who was still there for work, with that mask. Franco, who kept the mask, decided to incorporate it into his proposal five years later. In August 2015, the actor popped the question while on a trip to Big Sur, California. He also bought a $10 vintage placeholder ring from an old Hollywood antique store, since he knew Brie would want to choose her own engagement ring. Dave Franco noted,

"So, we go up to Big Sur, we're on the back patio, she's out overlooking the ocean. She turns around, I'm on one knee, I'm wearing the mask, I'm holding up the ring. And because it had been five years, she couldn't place the mask. She didn't know what it was.

Reminiscing about the embarrassing proposal, Franco continued,

"So, what she sees is me wearing this weird, stupid mask, holding up this janky stone ring. And so, the entire proposal is her saying, 'What is happening right now?' And it's me trying to explain how sweet it is that I kept the mask for five years."

---

A look back into Dave Franco and Alison Brie's relationship

Dave Franco, 36, and Alison Brie, 39, who have always kept their relationship as private as they could, were set up by a mutual friend in 2011. In 2020, Brie, during her appearance on the The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, noted that she and her friend Jules ran into Franco at the airport in New Orleans and invited him to dinner.

Later that night, while at dinner, Jules texted Brie encouraging her to hook up with Franco and Brie replied with a "Yes, please! [thumbs up emojis]." Franco also responded by saying he was "in" when Jules secretly showed him Brie's text under the table and the rest is history. The actress told Fallon,

"It was a perfect set-up because we both got to leave the restaurant [and] head out to the evening of drinking and debauchery having a s*xy secret that we knew the other person was on board. So then it was 48 hours of dr*gs and s*x [and] a lot of making out."

The duo then met in New York later that year, where Dave Franco invited his then-future wife to Paris by leaving a secret note in her sweatshirt. A few years ago, Alison Brie, who was "never really interested" in getting married, told Metro,

"There was a semi-immediate click... And it felt super-easy and natural, and I think that's probably how it should feel."

In May 2013, the couple made an on-screen appearance in a Funny Or Die skit called Dream Girl. Franco and Brie made their official red carpet debut in June 2015, when they attended the Dior Homme fashion show together. Two months later, Dave's brother James Franco confirmed the couple's engagement in a since-deleted Instagram post, the caption of which read,

"Congrats Davy and Allison!!! Engaged!!! I WUUUUUUV YOU"

Dave Franco and Alison Brie finally tied the knot outside of the public eye in March 2017. Franco later described the secret wedding as intimate and really fun. In June 2017, The Little Hours, the film which starred the couple, was released. Later that year, in December, the James Franco-directed film The Disaster Artist was released. It was the second film the couple ever worked on.

In a 2018 interview with The Sunday Times, Brie, who owns four cats, Harry, Arturo, Otis, and Max, with Franco, noted that the duo have opted to not have children. She told the outlet,

"It would be nice, but I think of all the things that would be so stressful. I think about how much we're involved in our cats' lives. Oh my God, if it was a child!"

In April 2019, the couple started working on Franco's directorial debut, The Rental. The movie was released in June 2020 and starred Jeremy Allen White, Sheila Vand, and Dan Stevens alongside Brie.

Dave Franco recently directed Alison Brie in his upcoming rom-com movie Somebody I Used to Know, the cast of which also includes Jay Ellis and Kiersey Clemons. The movie will debut on Amazon Prime Video this year.