MNN - Mother Nature Network

You just never know when true love will strike. 

 

For Alec Baldwin, 54, it happened less than a year ago while he was dining at the gourmet vegan eater Pure Food and Wine. The restaurant, a popular healthy retreat for celebs, is well-known for its deliciously awesome animal-free cuisine and artistic food presentation. On that fateful evening, 28-year-old yoga instructor and former professional Latin dancer Hilaria Thomas happened to be sitting near the famous actor — though, as the New York Post reports, she was only "vaguely aware" of who he was. 

 

Anyways, the two hit it off, exchanged numbers, and as of last weekend, are now officially engaged. 

 

"I was married and I was with somebody for 10 years and then after I got divorced, I dated people and I had one girlfriend for several years," Baldwin told Piers Morgan in January. "And right before I met Hilaria ... I did lay in my bed and say, 'This is it. I'm gonna be alone for the rest of my life, I'm gonna die alone in this apartment in this bed, I'll have my friends, I'll have Twitter, I'll have Words with Friends, I'll have my New Yorker subscription ... I'll have my quiet, unhappy life,' and then right when I put it all on the shelf, and it was over ... I walked into a restaurant ... and I met this woman who is probably one of the greatest people I've ever met in my life."

 

“I knew this was coming and couldn’t be happier for my big brother," brother Stephen Baldwin told the Daily News.

 

The timing of Thomas entering Baldwin's life has not only been good for his heart, but also literally for his health. The actor was diagnosed in May 2011 as prediabetic, something the CDC estimates 79 million other Americans are facing. 

 

He immediately went about changing his diet and, naturally, took up some yoga and pilates, too. 

 

"I gave up sugar," he told Access Hollywood earlier this month. "I lost 30 pounds in four months. It's amazing."

 

"(I do) Pilates, spin, not as much yoga as I'd like," he added. "When we're shooting ['30 Rock'] it's tough ... When we're shooting and I can't work out, I just have to eat less. So, I'm very conscious of that. But sugar was the real killer for me — that was the problem."

 

A wedding date for the couple has yet to be announced.