Adam Brody and Leighton Meester met in 2011, while working on the indie comedy The Oranges. They had immediate chemistry and were soon dating. As TV icons starring on The O.C. and Gossip Girl, respectively, fans were fascinated by the pair.

“They were always close and friendly,” a source told Us Weekly at the time.

However, they’ve been fairly private about their relationship, marrying quietly and going on to have two children they rarely talk about. In a new interview with Interview Mag, they question each other, revealing a little bit more about their romance. The couple are promoting Meester’s upcoming holiday romcom, EXmas, and their shared film, River Wild, a thriller featuring the married pair across from one another.

To start, the couple are stopped mid-interview by their kids when the doorbell rings, and Meester jokes, “We got interrupted by our children.”

As they continue, they’re also distracted by one another and the fun patter they’ve developed over the years together.

“This is one of the more funny things that I think we’ve ever done together,” Meester says at one point. “Only because of the presence of the recording device and how much we yearn to have a full conversation without interruption. It’s just hilarious that we can do this and try to cut through all the flirtation.”

In one of the most telling passages, the couple discuss what it’s been like for Meester to be a working actor and a mom and they allude to previous conversations on the topic.

BRODY: Next question. How has motherhood changed your career?

MEESTER: Boy, oh boy. Buckle up. There’s probably a nice canned answer for this.

BRODY: We don’t do canned here. I want your hot take.

MEESTER: [Laughs] It’s inevitable that it’s changed it, and we’ve had these conversations endlessly. I wouldn’t change anything and I’m proud of the mom I am. But I also feel like I’m open to a lot of self-doubt and worry, and to more extreme hypervigilance and neurosis [Laughs]. So all I can do is take it a day at a time. But when I’m with my kids, our kids, I feel like all I can do is be present. Then when I’m working, I miss them like crazy. It’s hard not to feel as a mom that you’re not doing enough and I think that’s always going to be reinforced by our society.

BRODY: Right.

MEESTER: But I think that the sweet, canned answer is, it gave me a lot of compassion, and this whole other level of appreciation for other people and a sensitivity that I don’t think I ever had before. Particularly, when it comes to children. It’s not like a regular job. You work for 3 months, nonstop, day and night, and then not at all for the rest of the time. [Laughs] It’s preferable.