Love Stories: A hotel pool led Harry Connick Jr to future wife Jill Goodacre

Harry Connick Jr was swimming laps in a hotel pool when he caught sight of a striking young woman he felt compelled to meet.

It was 1990 when the American jazz singer leapt out of the water and introduced himself to Jill Goodacre, then a Victoria's Secret model.

The somewhat chance meeting between the pair proved to be the start of a deep love story that continues today, almost 30 years later.

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Connick Jr was in his early twenties when he made the bold decision to approach Goodacre as she passed by the hotel's pool area.

They were staying at the same place in Los Angeles for work. He was recording his second studio album, We Are In Love, and she was on her way to a photoshoot.

"I was about 22 years old and I jumped out of the pool," he recalled years later.

"I was at a hotel, and I said 'Hi, I'm Harry, would you like to have some lunch with me?'"

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Goodacre politely declined his offer, saying she had to run. Connick Jr then mustered up the courage to ask her to consider staying for a few minutes. She agreed.

"If that had been it between us, just that moment, I would've thought about it for the rest of my life," he told Glamour in 2007.

The couple tied the knot in 1994, four years after they met and two years after the Hope Floats actor proposed with an emerald cut diamond.

They share three daughters, Georgia, Sara Kate and Charlotte.

"I married my best friend and I married a woman who I look up to infinitely," Connick Jr said of his wife in 2019.

"We have the same values so it's easy for us to try and impart those on our children."

In the decades since their first meeting, the couple continue to speak candidly about their love for each other.

Their love story hasn't been without its challenges, many of them out of their control.

In 2017 the couple opened up about Goodacre's cancer diagnosis.

The multi-platinum recording artist revealed in an interview with People that his wife secretly battled breast cancer since 2012.

Goodacre was diagnosed with stage 1 invasive ductal carcinoma at age 53. She immediately underwent a lumpectomy, which was followed by radiation.

She found the most difficult point of her cancer journey was telling her daughters.

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"It broke my heart," she told the publication.

Connick Jr said he felt especially impacted by the devastating news as he lost his own mother to ovarian cancer when he was just 13.

"I was scared I was going to lose her, absolutely. I wasn't going to let her see that, but I was," he said.

"I know from losing my mum that the worst can happen. She's my best friend, and I really don't know what I would do without her."

In 2019, Connick Jr opened up about an awkward encounter with Frank Sinatra in an elevator, where the legendary singer kissed Goodacre on the lips.

It all began when the 52-year-old Connick Jr sang a Sinatra song in front of the iconic crooner but froze on stage during the gig.

After the performance, he sought out 'ol' Blue Eyes' to apologise.

"That was an unpleasant experience, because as much as I wanted to sing for him and for everyone else… I don't get nervous, but I was really nervous about it and I went blank," Connick Jr recalled during an interview with UK show This Morning.

"I completely forgot the words. I was with my wife, then my girlfriend, and then we saw Frank in the elevator. I said, 'We should go, I have to explain myself.'"

Little did he know things would go from bad to worse when Sinatra kissed Goodacre.

"He looked at [her] and kind of placed her face in his hands and said, 'You're beautiful,' and he kissed her right on the mouth, walked out of the elevator and that was the end of that," Connick recalled.

Sinatra died in 1998 of a heart attack.

While Sinatra's actions would be deemed inappropriate in light of the #MeToo Movement, Connick Jr admitted he thought it was strange then as well.

"I think it was probably unacceptable then," he said of the kiss.

"But it was a situation where it was an interesting thing – I think because of my affection for him, in the context, she thought it was hilarious. But obviously it's completely inappropriate.

"I never got to sing for him again, [but] she loves to remind me of that story."