Zooey Deschanel Flirted with Now-Fiancé Jonathan Scott Amid Secret Divorce Mediation with Ex

During an appearance on the latest episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, the actress recalled flirting with the Property Brothers star when she was secretly in mediation amid her divorce from Jacob Pechenik.

Zooey and Pechenik announced their separation in September 2019, just one month after she first met Jonathan while filming an episode of Carpool Karaoke: The Series. According to Zooey, she was already going through divorce mediation at the time -- but no one knew about it.

When Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper asked if she felt a "spark" or "connection" to Jonathan during their first encounter, the New Girl alum said, "Right away I was like, 'He's really cute, like handsome guy.'"

"I was going through a divorce that was kind of under wraps because we were ... for our kids, we were in divorce mediation," continued Zooey, who shares kids Elsie, 10, and Charlie, 8, with her ex-husband, "and so I was just kind of looking for someone to flirt with. I was like, 'Oh, I'll flirt with him. He's fun.'

"We immediately had a connection, and it took a while for him to drag it out of me that I was getting a divorce," she added with a laugh. "And yeah, then we've been inseparable ever since. He's the nicest person."

During the Carpool Karaoke episode, Zooey and Jonathan were joined by their siblings, Emily Deschanel and Drew Scott, respectively, with Zooey telling Cooper that her sister "knew" there was something between her and Jonathan.

Meanwhile, Zooey went on to recall her first date with Jonathan, revealing that they had a "mutual first move."

"We had a really funny first date where half the time he was trying to drag it out of me, like, what was going on and I was like, 'I'll tell you later' because we were in a crowded restaurant," she told Cooper, "and then we did karaoke, and we were just going from thing to thing, and then he's like, 'I want you to see this house I'm renovating.' And I was like, 'Oh, he's going to try to kiss me. And then he didn't because he's just a nerd who's trying to show me a house."

"And then I was like, 'Well, that went like really badly,'" Zooey recalled. "And I got in the car and he was like, 'Oh my god, I'm so sorry. You left really fast!' ... I was like, 'I thought we were vibing!'"

The Elf star jokingly added that she and Jonathan shared a kiss on their second date.

Zooey and Jonathan got engaged in 2023 after four years of dating.

Eelsewhere during her conversation with Cooper, Zooey opened up about co-parenting relationship with her ex-husband Jacob Pechenik.

"I don't hate anyone that I was with before," said the singer, whose first marriage was to Death Cab for Cutie musician Ben Gibbard, before adding of Pechenik. "It's awesome because my kid's dad is a great dad. I always want to support him as a parent and we have a group chat [with] Jonathan and Jacob and I."

"I mean my kids thrive when they know that we all care for each other and we socialize and we've been on vacations together ... We've been through a lot," she continued, before recalling a question her son, Charlie, asked when he was younger.

"He was so little, he doesn't remember we got divorced, but he goes like, 'How come you and daddy don't live in the same house?'" Zooey said. "I was like, 'We get along better if we're in different houses.' ... We get along great as long as we're in different houses!"