The singer confessed that he was “more selfish” when he first met his wife in 2007.

BY JEFF VESPA/GETTY IMAGES

John Legend confessed that he didn’t always treat Chrissy Teigen like the woman who inspired his hit love song “All of Me.”

The singer and his wife first met in 2007 on the set of the music video for his song “Stereo,” but according to Legend their relationship was not a whirlwind romance right from the start. On the latest episode of the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, he admitted, “I think I was more selfish then. I wasn’t a great partner at the beginning of our relationship. Even though I was very into her and very excited to be with her. I was still selfish. I was in my mid-20s, still not ready to fully be the committed partner that I am now.”

But as their relationship progressed, Legend slowly realized that he needed to change if he wanted to keep Teigen in his life. “When you stop being so selfish when you think about not only the joy you get from a situation and the pleasure you get from it, but also think about your responsibility and your commitment in that situation, you just grow and you mature,” he said. “Part of it is it’s just a matter of time. You need time to become that person you want to be. When we first met, we were very attracted to each other, our chemistry was great, but that level of attraction is more like infatuation at the beginning of a relationship. And love when it is able to stand the test of time, it has to be deeper and more real than that. We’ve been through enough together where it’s really fortified us and made us stronger. Those tests have made us grow together and realize things about each other that we didn’t know. And going through all of that…to be able to write and sing a song called ‘I Don’t Love You Like I Used To.’ It’s different now but it’s better.”

While there have still been plenty of tumultuous times in their relationship over the years, including the devastating loss of a baby, Legend explained that those difficult moments have helped him learn so much about his wife and her personality, and it’s only made him love her all the more. “How she reacts to stress, how she reacts to life, how she can find a joke even in the craziest…even in grief, she’s able to find humor,” he said. “I feel like you see so many things about your partner as you grow together and as you experience adversity together and what I’ve seen from her just made me love her more and value her more. I think she’s cooler now than I ever thought she was. I just really have seen her in all kinds of situations. I just value her more, and am in awe of her more than I ever have been.”