Jill Biden thought her now-husband was a bit of a square when she first met him, the First Lady told donors at a recent fundraiser.
At first, Jill thought to herself, "Thank God it's just one date" - but Joe Biden eventually wooed her with that notorious charm of his.
Joe and Jill have both said they met on a blind date in 1975 orchestrated by Joe's brother Frank, who knew Jill from college.
This story has been challenged by Jill's first husband Bill Stevenson, who claims the relationship started as an affair.
Whatever the case may be, the Bidens have stuck to their Hollywood rom-com narrative.
Jill set the scene during a recent talk to donors in Manhattan's Upper East Side: it was the 1970s, and then-college aged Jill was still steeped in the counterculture of the time. With his clean look, then-Senator Biden wasn't like the other guys - and at first, Jill wasn't sure if she liked that.
"One day, I was asked out on a date from out of the blue, and that evening a handsome young senator showed up at my door . . . I took one look at his perfect suit and his leather loafers and I thought, ‘Thank God it’s only one date!’"
Joe Biden's first wife and infant daughter died in a car crash in 1972. Jill said she was hesitant to accept Joe's marriage proposal because of the trauma his sons had experienced.
“I knew that if I said yes to Joe, it had to be forever," she said.
After five proposals, Jill relented.
"Well, one date eventually turned into a marriage proposal. And OK, if I am being completely honest, it was five proposals, because this was not part of my plan," she said.
Joe Biden has also joked often about the uphill battle it was to get Jill to "yes," telling actor Drew Barrymore in an interview last year that he was smitten the moment they met.
“My brother set us up on a blind date, and when I went out with her the first time, I knew that this was the woman, I really did.”
For years, Jill's husband bragged about being one of the poorest members of Congress - but he eventually figured out how to cash in on his political career and was reborn as "the big guy."
These days, Jill has played an increasingly visible role as a campaign surrogate and caretaker for her aging husband, who often resembles an escaped nursing home patient.
