Christina Applegate is getting candid about the red flags to watch for on a first date that might signal whether a relationship has real staying power. Drawing from personal experience, the Married… with Children alum is offering hard-earned insight into what can make or break a romance from the very start.
In her new memoir titled You With the Sad Eyes, the actor spills the truth about an obvious sign she ignored during a first date. Applegate is drawing from her own failed relationship and marriage, without actually revealing his name, but fans might be quick to guess.
“If you go on a first date with a guy and you don’t like his shoes, run,” said the actor. “Shoes are a telltale sign of whether or not a relationship will last.”
Who is she possibly referring to? It’s likely her first husband, That Thing You Do! star Johnathon Schaech. She married the actor in 2001 and filed for divorce a few years later in 2005, claiming irreconcilable differences. Their divorce was finalized in 2007.
Applegate talks about their first date together in her memoir, and all she could think about were Schaech’s “bad” shoes.
“For our first date, he had shown up in boots, but not even cowboy boots. I think that they were supposed to look like a cowboy boot, but they missed the mark by a wide margin,” she remembers. “The whole time during that dinner, I remember thinking, ‘Those shoes are so bad. Bad shoes, bad shoes, bad shoes, bad shoes.'”
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Believe it or not, Applegate’s own advice might have saved her, as she revealed to have had doubts even before walking down the aisle. The actor admits that she didn’t want to self-sabotage herself by focusing on the cons versus the pros. She adds that Schaech had a lot of what she was looking for at the time, like not relying on her financially. He was also a “handsome fella. He liked sports, so Dad was on board … he disappointed no one, except maybe me.”
Hopefully, Applegate took her own advice when meeting Dutch musician Martyn LeNoble in 2009. The two hit it off and announced their engagement the following year on Valentine‘s Day, and married in 2013. They have one daughter, born in 2011.
This story was originally published by Parade on Mar 3, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.