'I'm only dating you if you're not dating anyone else': Dr. Oz had to meet Lisa's requirements before their disastrous first date

Lisa and Mehmet Oz hit some speed bumps on their road to romance, and today, their successful marriage can be traced back to an awkward first date.

In fact, Lisa describes it as “kind of a disaster,” as Dr. Oz took her to a steakhouse. Sounds nice, right? But, she explains to Yahoo Lifestyle, “I said, ‘This is so nice of you. Thank you so much, I really appreciate it… I’m a vegetarian.’”

Oops.

What made it worse was that the soon-to-be health guru didn’t see the problem. “I thought a vegetarian also ate vegetables,” Dr. Oz admitted. It’s safe to say America’s doctor has learned a thing or two since then.

The way they met was equally as uncomfortable. Dr. Oz’s father was friends with Lisa’s dad, and they invited the kids out to dinner with them one night. “It was sort of an arranged marriage,” Dr. Oz joked.

He got there first, and Lisa was completely clueless as to who he was. “I thought he was the ma?tre d’,” she says. “I was like, ‘Wow, that waiter is so hot.’”

The pair actually didn’t hit it off right away, but that’s because they didn’t get the chance. “He didn’t speak to me the entire dinner. He spoke to my mom,” Lisa recalls. But there was a method to the TV host and cardiac surgeon’s madness.

“I also realized, if I get Mom to buy into me as a reasonable suitor, I can get Lisa to come on a date with me,” he explained. So after that fruitless first meeting, he called her up to ask her on a date.

But Lisa had some demands before agreeing to go out with him.

“He said, ‘Do you want to go out next weekend?’ And I said, ‘Only if you don’t have any other dates because I’m only dating you if you’re not dating anyone else.’” While Dr. Oz jokes now that he thought it was a “clingy” move initially, he was clearly intrigued by her straightforward ways.

“We dated for about seven months, and then we got into a big fight, and I realized I couldn’t live my life without Lisa,” he said. So it was time for a grand gesture.

Dr. Oz chased her down the street, picked up a tab from an aluminum can that was on the ground, and presented it to her. “It’s not much, but I’ll make something out of this. Let me marry you,” he recounted.

Thirty-three years, four children, and a handful of grandkids down that road, they still have stars in their eyes.

Season 10 of The Dr. Oz Show airs weekdays (check your local listings). New episodes of The Dr. Oz Podcast drop Tuesdays and Thursdays, and feature true crime and interviews with celebrities, authors, and pioneers in the medical community.

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