Joshua Jackson Says Wife Jodie Turner-Smith Inspired Him to Want Marriage, Kids: 'I Was Just Not Ready'

Joshua Jackson is getting candid about his relationship with his wife Jodie Turner-Smith.

The Fatal Attraction actor, 44, revealed that he changed his mind about wanting to get married and have kids after meeting the British actress, 36, during an interview with The Times published Sunday.

"Partially, it's age," Jackson told the British publication about changing his views. "I'm old enough to be able to do this. Partially it's about finding somebody in the right moment of life."

"If we had met five years earlier we probably would have had a torrid affair, but all the rest of this stuff, I was just not ready. I didn't think I ever wanted to get married."

The couple met in 2018 through a mutual friend at a charity event in Los Angeles, and Jackson recalled how and and the After Yang actress would "spend every moment together and find reasons to be in other cities together at the same time."

Jackson, who previously dated actress Diane Kruger for 10 years until 2016, also opened up about the moment model/actress Smith proposed to him during a New Year's Eve vacation to Nicaragua.

"I don't know if she planned it or if it was a spur-of-the-moment thing, but out popped a proposal I was not expecting and the organic and instinctive answer was yes," he said.

In December 2019, a source close to the Murder Mystery 2 actress and Jackson confirmed to PEOPLE that the two had wed.

"Six months [after the proposal], she was pregnant and we were on our way. And now we have this beautiful baby who is literally the manifestation of that love," the Dawson's Creek alum continued of the pair's 3-year-old daughter. "It is impossible for me to look into the face of my child without feeling love for my wife."

He added of becoming a father, "It has changed me in every single possible way."

In October 2022, Jackson opened up to PEOPLE about the joys of first-time fatherhood. "The work [of being a parent] is constant because she's constantly a new version of herself," he explained. "So I think [you have to be] open to the fact that you have to rediscover your child all the time."

"But the greatest piece of it right now is she's so hyper-verbal, and she's very, very opinionated," the actor continued. "And I'm just enjoying the ability to be in that conversation with her."

Elsewhere in his interview with The Times, Jackson, who starred in The Affair for five seasons and is about to co-lead a TV adaptation of Fatal Attraction alongside Lizzy Caplan, revealed his views on cheating and admitted that he thinks having an affair is forgivable.

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"I think an affair can be forgiven," he told the outlet. "We're all grown-ups. No one wants to be cheated on, and there is massive repair to be done."

"Affairs aren't about the partner — they're about the person who has transgressed," Jackson added. "It's not purely about the sex. There's a deeper violation."

The first three episodes of Fatal Attraction drop April 30 on Paramount+.