For Matthew Lawrence,Sterling Preston his romance with Chilli was simply meant to be.
 
But after the two began dating last fall, the Boy Meets World alum, who recently shared his hopes to start a family one day, noted the true timing on their future plans.
 
"It's such an interesting story," he told E! News' Adrienne Bailon-Houghton and Justin Sylvester. Referring to his older brother Joey Lawrence, he added, "Joe and I were commiserating about this plan that we had to have children together…when we were growing up. And I missed the first go around and now he's starting a new family and I was thinking, ‘Man, it'd be great if we could do it again, when I didn't have the chance to raise a family together.'"
 
"So that's what I meant by that," Matthew said of his recent comments on starting a family. "I didn't mean to put any pressure on somebody I was dating or anything."
 
But as Matthew noted, he has no doubt that Chilli—who shares son Tron, 25, with ex Dallas Austin—would be "incredible" if those plans were to happen eventually.

"She's an amazing person," the actor shared. "She's already a mother, she has an incredible son. I respect so much as to how she's raised him. She'd be an incredible mother again and I'd be incredibly lucky but that's way in the future."

Matthew, 43, and Chilli, 52, brought in this year with a bang when they made their relationship Instagram official on New Year's Eve, with both sharing a video of themselves dancing to A-ha's "Take on Me" in matching PJs, writing, "#NewYearsShenanigans #OnesieGang #WeCute."

The "Meant to Be" singer's rep also told TMZ that Matthew—who finalized his divorce from Cheryl Burke in September 2022—and Chilli started dating just before Thanksgiving, with the couple spending that holiday, as well as Christmas, together in Atlanta, where he met her family. 

Though it's worth noting that the two developed a friendship beforehand and were seen having fun in the sun together last August.

And Chilli has also made it clear that Matthew is her baby (baby, baby), with one her most recent social media posts giving him and his brothers, Joey and Andrew, a shoutout for the launch of their Brotherly Love podcast.

"Come on vocals!!! Can't wait for this podcast!" she wrote alongside a Feb. 14 video of the trio singing. Referring to the none other than Matthew, she added, "Happy Valentine's Day...and yeah the one on the right [heart emojis.]"

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