Melissa Joan Hart & Her Husband Look So Different In Photo From The Night They Met
As befits a '90s teen icon, Melissa Joan Hart and her husband Mark Wilkerson had a meet-cute straight out of a rom-com. A famous young actor goes to a party and falls in love with a hunky rocker performing at the event? It almost sounds like the plot of a movie Hart herself would have starred in, but this was indeed how the "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" star met her husband of more than two decades back in 2002. While attending a Kentucky Derby gala with a pal, Hart immediately noticed Wilkerson and fell in love at first sight after she was tasked with introducing his band Course of Nature to the crowd. "I went up there, and I met the band. And I saw this really handsome guy. And I went to my publicist who happened to be in the room and said, 'I need to meet him,'" she recalled to Fox News in 2024. But apparently, it wasn't just Hart who swiftly developed a crush that night.
Instead of following his habit of leaving the venue right after a performance, Wilkerson chose to linger at the party — specifically around the table of one gorgeous blonde actor. "He walked past my table three times, and I had to stop him. We chatted for a few minutes, took a picture together. And then I went back to his bus, met his mother, said goodbye," Hart shared. She kept that photo, and 22 years later, posted it on Instagram to mark the anniversary of their first meeting. The snap, which showed them awkwardly cuddling up and posing together, highlighted not only how far Hart and Wilkerson have come in their displays of affection, but also how drastically they've changed over the years.
Hart and Wilkerson have aged like fine wine, and so has their marriage
One of the many '90s teen stars who are unrecognizable now, Melissa Joan Hart looks very different compared to her "Clarissa Explains It All" days, based on the throwback snap she posted on Instagram in 2024. However, her husband, Mark Wilkerson, had the more drastic transformation after growing out his facial hair and bulking up in the two decades since the image was taken. But it's clear that both husband and wife have aged like fine wine, and their happy marriage might have played a major role.
Just a little over a year after their fateful meeting, the couple tied the knot in 2003. Defying the odds, Hart and Wilkerson welcomed three sons, who are all growing up fast, and turned their whirlwind romance into a long-lasting marriage. In July 2025, they marked their 22nd wedding anniversary by enjoying a romantic getaway in the Caribbean, where they looked back on their journey as a couple. Speaking to Parade about their anniversary, Hart said, "We made a point when we got married, we said our anniversary would always be a time when, no matter how busy we were, we'd escape and find time for each other." Though falling in love was as easy as breathing for the pair, she made it clear that they put in a lot of time, work, and effort into their enviable relationship. "We've worked hard for our marriage, and we've made it to 22 years so far, which I feel like in Hollywood years is like 52," added Hart.