Josh Duhamel's Glam Life

Taghi Naderzad

You're hot." That was the genius pickup line uttered by Josh Duhamel when he first met his mega-celeb crush, Fergie, in 2004. She was performing with the Black Eyed Peas on Duhamel's campy casino show, Las Vegas, and the newbie got a bit flustered (besides Vegas, he'd been in little more than a soap and 2004's Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!). "In my defense, I was only speaking the truth," he says now. Luckily, she gave him her number—and was willing to hit a burlesque show when he finally asked her out. "That's how I knew she was perfect for me."

These days, life is sweet for Mr. Fergie, 36, star of next month's flirty vacation romp When in Rome. The two wed last January at a Malibu vineyard, and partied with 375 glittery guests. Fergie's hit "Glamorous" should be the soundtrack to their lives—right?

"I'm sort of an old man, always tinkering in the backyard," Duhamel says. "Since I grew up playing outdoors, I still like to plant things, sit out on the deck, or go hiking." He also enjoys driving golf balls, obsessively retrieved by his "little caddy," the more active of their two dachshunds (the other is a chocolate-colored fatty named Meatloaf).

Of course, somehow amid the cozy bliss, Duhamel found time to star in this month's Transformers sequel, Revenge of the Fallen, with all the hoopla that entails. "It's a lot of pressure—on a $100,000 shot, you don't get to mess up. There are 19 bombs going off, and you're delivering this big line, and if you don't get it right, they have to reset all 19 bombs."

But at the end of the day, Duhamel just might be better suited to rom-coms. Particularly the one about a kid from North Dakota who wooed a pop star and lived happily ever after.