A COVID love story .
Myha’lais opening up about how her popular role inIndustryled her to find love in an unexpected way.
Myha’la, who plays lead character Harper Stern on the HBO investment banking drama series, says she was going through her DMs one day and the rest is history.
She recently stopped byLate Night with Seth Meyersto chat about the new third season and her engagement, and the 28-year-old actor couldn’t help but gush over how she mether man, her man, her man— fellow actor, Armando Rivera.
Let me set the mood: It was during the height of COVID, Season 1 ofIndustrydebuted on HBO, and Myha’la had a lot of time on her hands due to the restrictions and rules that came along with the pandemic. So, she used some of that time to read her private messages on Instagram.
While rummaging through random feet requests and other weird stuff, theBodies Bodies Bodiesstar stumbled upon a congratulatory message from Armando.
“There was one [message] that just said, ‘Congrats on the show! I’m a huge fan. I wish you all the success in the world.’ Or something like that,” Myha’la said.
“I said, ‘Thank you,’ and the next day I woke up to a string of video messages.” Thinking it was going to be something “weird,” Myha’la was hesitant to open them up, but she did anyway. “So, I looked at his profile and was like, ‘Oh, he’s kind of cute. I guess I’ll watch it.'”
Armando recorded himself asking Myha’la if he could interview her for a school project. She thought it was ballsy of him to send a self-recorded video of himself to a complete stranger, so she ultimately agreed to help him out. What was supposed to be a 5 to 10-minute Zoom call turned into a 45-minute one.
Myha’la could feel a connection between them. Before they ended the call, she remembers flirting with him and asking him questions about himself. In the moment, it was probably innocent, but as she reflected on the conversation, she couldn’t help but cringe.
She said she hopped off the call thinking, “Wow, I’m in love with a stranger. How weird.” She felt herself being cringey again, when she followed up with Armando about the interview.
“A few days passed, and I was like, ‘So, did you get an A on your project?'” She then audibly screamed, still embarrassed by what she wrote him.
But Armando didn’t find it embarrassing because that sparked their initial consistent message exchange. They chatted for three weeks on social media before Armando took the leap and asked for her phone number. The number exchange then led to “COVID-esque FaceTime dates.” A month later, they met in person, and she arrived with a bottle of wine in one hand and hand sanitizer in another.
Myha’la said the first time they held hands felt like when the Na’vi creatures in theAvatarfranchise link their braids together and mate for life. Magical.
Well, last July — three-and-a-half years after their first meeting — Armando proposed to Myha’la while wearing a shirt with her face all over it. Now, they’re planning their wedding.
If that’s not a meet-cute story, I don’t know what is! But she can tell the story better than I can. Watch Myha’la recount the full chance-meeting onLate Night with Seth Meyersbelow:
And be sure to fit out Season 3 ofIndustry , transmit every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO .
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