Jon Bernthal won wife back with help from Willie Nelson

Actor Jon Bernthal credits Willie Nelson with helping him repair his relationship with his now-wife during a rocky time in their courtship.

The Punisher star first met Erin Angle in 2000 at a welcome home party thrown for him following his return to Washington, D.C., after studying at the Moscow Art Theatre in Russia, and he was smitten from the moment he laid eyes on her.

"I came over and was just rudely messing around, and I know this is the corniest thing in the world, but when I actually saw Erin, it was literally like angels were singing," he tells Men's Health. "I had never seen anyone so beautiful."

The couple began dating and Erin stuck by Jon's side as they moved from city to city while he pursued his acting career.

However, they endured a brief split upon their arrival in Los Angeles, with Jon admitting he "did a bunch of dumb stuff" which cost him their romance.

Erin ended up taking a job in San Francisco, California, but Jon never gave up trying to win her back, and after convincing her to join him to see country legend Nelson in concert, he took the opportunity to make his move.

"I snuck backstage," he recalls. "I found this beautiful postcard and wrote Willie this long letter and rolled him a beautiful (marijuana) joint and told him the situation with me and my woman (sic). I told him she's a good-hearted woman in love with a good-timin' man, and I asked him to play this one song Always on My Mind for us, and he did."

His efforts paid off, and Jon and Erin wed in 2010. They have three children together.