When it comes to Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher’s relationship life really did imitate art.

Speaking to Marc Maron on his WTF with Marc Maron podcast, Kunis revealed that after years of close friendship after their roles on That ‘70s Show, the seed for a romantic relationship was only planted after they both made movies about hooking up with friends.

“I did a movie called Friends with Benefits. He did a movie that was very similar called No Strings Attached,” Kunis said. “We lived our movies out… We were just like, let’s just hook up. Let’s have fun. We’re both single. We both trust each other. Everything’s great.”

It was all fun and games for three months until Kunis realised that her feelings for Kutcher were developing into something a little bit bigger.

She put her cards on the table, she said, and told him the truth. “I was like, you know what, I actually care about you. I don’t want to mess anything up so I’m just going to walk away before it becomes too much,” she said. “And he was like ‘Got it’. And the next day, he showed up to my house and he was like ‘Move in with me’ and I said okay.” 

What started as a friends with benefits arrangement became a loving and supportive marriage and two children.

Kunis told Maron that one of the secrets to their successful relationship is that the family is never separated, a decision they made as soon as they knew they were going to have kids. “As long as he’s shooting his show [The Ranch] I’m in LA with the kids,” she said. “If I’m doing a movie, then we uproot the family to where I am.”

Before their friends with benefits arrangement, both Kunis and Kutcher were involved in longterm relationships with Macaulay Culkin and Demi Moore respectively. “They had a normal, real relationship,” Kunis said, of Kutcher and Moore’s marriage. “They had three kids they were raising. It was a normal life. Yeah, he was younger but he loved those kids.” 

Kunis mused that if she and Kutcher had gotten together when they first met on the set of That ‘70s Show their relationship would never have stood the test of time.

“He and I talk about it and we’re like, yes, had we connected then, would we have connected? No, because the people who we were back then would never be together. But it’s just a bummer that we missed out on 20 years together,” Kunis said.

“I look back and I’m like, we could have spent 20 years together.”  

Images: Getty, That ‘70s Show