Josh Lucas' Girlfriend Shares Surprising Sweet Home Alabama Take

The truth is, when it comes to Sweet Home Alabama crushes, Josh Lucas' girlfriend gave her heart away a long time ago...to Patrick Dempsey.

Despite Josh's character Jake getting his happily ever after with his estranged wife Melanie (Reese Witherspoon) in the 2002 rom-com, the actor's IRL girlfriend Brianna Ruffalo has found herself rooting for his onscreen rival.

As the ABC7 Los Angeles meteorologist, who joined Josh at the March 14 premiere of the Apple TV+ limited series Palm Royale, admitted to E! News' Erin Lim Rhodes, "I'm Team Patrick Dempsey."

And Brianna has made it clear she hoped Patrick's character Andrew would ultimately walk away with Melanie's heart.

"From day one, she was like, 'Oh yeah, you were the other guy,'" Josh noted. "She was like, 'I didn't like you because you like, stole her from Patrick.'"

The Yellowstone actor and Brianna, who made their romance public a year ago, have even tried to watch the movie together—although it didn't necessarily go according to plan.

"We actually watched part of it once and she fell asleep, like, 10 minutes in and was still like, 'I'm still Team Patrick,'" he said. "And that was it."

And Brianna isn't the only one still hung up on the movie. As Sweet Home Alabama continues to be a fan favorite, Josh has even shared his thoughts about the idea of making a second film.

"Look, I would love to do the sequel," he said on SiriusXM's Pop Culture Spotlight with Jessica Shaw in 2021, adding that discussions about a potential second Sweet Home Alabama film with Reese have been met with, "Oh, you can talk to her about stuff five years from now."

The following year, she too spoke about the possibility of rebooting Sweet Home Alabama.

"I hope so," the Morning Show actress said on Today. "I think that would be a great idea."

You can watch Josh on Palm Royale, which also stars Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern, Allison Janney, Ricky Martin and Carol Burnett, when it premieres globally on Apple TV+ March 20.