The Simpsons voice actor, Yeardley Smith, married Dan Grice

The Simpsons voice actor Yeardley Smith married longtime girlfriend Dan Grice in mid-June, eight years after their unexpected first meeting.

The 58-year-old actress, who has voiced Lisa Simpson since The Simpsons first aired in 1989, first met her husband in 2014, during the opening of a mural in Springfield, Oregon for the show’s 25th anniversary.

Grice is a Springfield Police Department detective who agrees to provide security for Smith while he’s in town, which is an unexpected start to their romance, as she revealed to The Hollywood Reporter.

Married: The voice of The Simpsons, Yeardley Smith, married his longtime girlfriend Dan Grice in mid-June, eight years after their unexpected first meeting.

The Simpsons showrunner Al Jean was originally supposed to travel to Oregon, although he ultimately couldn’t make it due to preparations for The Simpsons’ three nights at the Hollywood Bowl.

When the show asked Smith to take Jean’s place, he initially said no, which was the complete opposite of his usual approach.

“The joke was that I would absolutely do anything for my show, but I didn’t really want to do it,” added Smith.

He said the show was back and asked again, prompting Smith – who has dealt with stalkers in the past – about security for the event.

‘Out of curiosity, I asked about safety because my vision was I was in an apple box with the first person in the front row literally an arm’s length away. It was exactly like that,” said Smith.

Curiosity: ‘Out of curiosity I asked about security because my vision was me in the apple box with the first person in the front row literally an arm’s length away. That’s exactly what it is,’ said Smith

‘I finally said I was leaving and they came back a few days later and said they were going to assign a plainclothes detective from the Springfield Police Department. That’s Dan,” he added.

Grice reveals that there were nine detectives in the Springfield Police Department at the time, and the captain had asked for a volunteer to be assigned.

‘Every time someone says they need a volunteer you just know it’s probably not going to be fun and fast, nobody raises their hand. I looked around the room at the other detectives, including my brother,’ said Grice.

‘It was summer and I thought, let these guys have some time with their families because they all have kids. I’m single and I don’t have kids, I thought I could do this,” she said.

When the captain mentioned Smith’s name he didn’t recognize him right away, but when he saw a photo he recognized him from The Legend of Billie Jean and Maximum Overdrive.

Recognize: When the captain mentions Smith’s name, he doesn’t recognize him right away, but when he sees a photo he recognizes him from The Legend of Billie Jean and Maximum Overdrive

He picks her up at the airport and watches her gracefully sign autographs for fans, and she surprises Dan by sitting in the front seat of his unmarked police car.

‘I wanted to chat with him so I sat in the front seat. I don’t know. … There was something about Dan’s calm confidence. He is very responsible without being overbearing in any way, shape or form. He respects without fawning. He wasn’t very impressed with me and I really admired his confidence,” said Smith.

While she suggests a place for him to have dinner, they both think of asking each other for dinner, even though they don’t . . . and each wish they had.

The next day he picked her up for an event, which she said, ‘it’s full and we’ve had the best day. The fans were amazing and it was a beautiful sunny day.’

Suggested: While she suggests a place for him to have dinner, they both think of asking each other for dinner, even though they don’t…

He dropped her off at the airport after the event and he gave her her number because they both admitted via text that they thought each other was very ‘interesting,’ even though Smith thought that would be the end of it, ‘because how are we going to do that? start a relationship with a distance of 850 miles.’

He eventually invited her to The Hollywood Bowl, which led to several years of long-distance dating before Grice moved to Los Angeles.

They got engaged in 2018 and were supposed to tie the knot in 2021 but were pushed back due to COVID, before tying the knot on June 11, 2022 at their Los Angeles home.

They both co-host the real crime podcast Small Town Dicks, both of which are hosted with twin brother Dan Dave.

The Simpsons even commemorated the wedding with a tweet featuring Lisa Simpson and a photo from their wedding in the background.

Tie the knot: They got engaged in 2018 and were supposed to tie the knot in 2021 but were pushed back due to COVID, before tying the knot June 11, 2022 at their Los Angeles home

Tweet: The Simpsons even commemorated the wedding with a tweet featuring Lisa Simpson and a photo from their wedding in the background

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