Patrick Schwarzenegger Postponed Wedding Plans with Fiancée Abby Champion to Film The White Lotus — Here's How She Reacted

Landing a coveted TV role caused Patrick Schwarzenegger to postpone walking down the aisle.

During his appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show on Tuesday, March 25, the actor, 31, explained to host Drew Barrymore that filming season 3 of The White Lotus delayed his wedding to fiancée Abby Champion.

The couple of nearly 10 years have "been together forever" and announced their engagement via a joint Instagram post in December 2023. Barrymore, 50, asked Patrick whether or not it was true that he and Champion would have been married already had he not nabbed his role as Saxon Ratliff — the eldest son of Timothy (Jason Isaacs) and Victoria (Par­ker Posey) — in The White Lotus.

"Yes," Patrick answered.

He explained that he got the part shortly after popping the question on the beach.

"Finally, a year and a half ago we got engaged. And it was our moment, it was this great thing," he said. "And a few days later, I booked White Lotus, and I was like, 'Abby, I know we're in this high of engagement, and we're gonna get married this year. But we're going to have to push it. I got White Lotus, and I'm going to film for the next seven months in Thailand.' "

While some brides-to-be might view a wedding postponement as a nightmare, Champion, 28, knew that getting to star in Mike White's hit HBO series was a dream come true for Patrick.

"She was so happy," the Gen V alum recalled. "She was ecstatic because she was a huge fan."

Patrick's family was equally as thrilled for him. He and Champion broke the casting news to his mom Maria Shriver and sister Katherine Schwarzenegger over lunch one day, as seen in a video of the emotional moment shared by Patrick on Instagram on Feb. 16. 

Patrick previously told PEOPLE for February’s digital cover that finding out he secured a main cast role on The White Lotus “was the greatest day in history for me.” Since the show premiered, he's made headlines for his character's nude scenes and incestuous relationship with his younger brother Lochlan (Sam Nivola).

Now that filming is over, Patrick appears to have refocused his attention on wedding planning. He told Barrymore that he's not married yet but that his big day is "coming up."

"We're getting married this summer," he said.

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The actor also reflected on the first time he met Champion in 2015.

"We met through... She was actually on a date with another friend of mine, and I went to the date," he said, which prompted Barrymore to ask, "Was your friend like, 'Great?' "

"It was a first-time date so, yes," he continued. "Everything was kosher per se. And at first, she blew me off for a while, and then finally we got to go on a date." 

Patrick gushed over his fiancée — whom he recently posed with for a risqué SKIMS ad and attended the launch party with for the Banana Republic White Lotus capsule collection launch in NYC — to PEOPLE in February.

"Over the course of the years, I just continuously fell in love with her more and more, with the kind of human that she was becoming and that the relationship was becoming," he said.