Teri Polo and Sherri Saum Relationship on ‘The Fosters’ and Their Real Life Partners

Produced by famous artist Jennifer Lopez, the story of The Fosters follows the lives of the Adams Foster family, an interracial lesbian couple, and their teenage foster kids as well as a birth child from a previous marriage.

The series premiered on June 3, 2013, and ended on June 6, 2018, after five seasons and 104 episodes. The cast comprises household names such as Teri Polo, Sherri Saum, Hayden Byerly, David Lambert, Maia Mitchell, Cierra Ramirez, Danny Nucci, and Noah Centineo.

Teri Polo Met Sherri Saum during Her Auditions

The dynamic of the Teri Polo and Sherri Saum relationship is what fans admire the most on the show. The chemistry of the couple, who play the married lesbian parents of five, Lena and Stef Adams Foster, has the same chemistry in real life as we see on-screen.

During a chat with Access, Polo and Saum shared a heartwarming reflection that happened when they started working together.

The duo first met when they were in the audition for a chemistry read. When Polo walked into the room, she could already feel the chemistry with the woman whom she had never met before.

She looked absolutely stunning. She was like the most gorgeous woman in the entire universe. And when I saw I was like, With a woman like her, I can play lesbian, YEAH!

Teri Polo Has Never Loved Another Woman like She Loves Sherri Saum

The Meet the Parents actress revealed that she would avoid befriending actors in the early days of her career. Instead, she would spend most of her time with the crew members: the hair and makeup artists. She always thought that actors were very self-centered people and somewhat "spoilt." 

Well, that prejudice terminated for her when she met actress Saum on the sets of the series. When they read the scenes together for the first time, they were already completing each other's sentences and helping one another with the dialogues. 

"It was as if we were as if we had done it for 10 years already," shared Polo. 

Once shooting began, she revealed that it was not difficult to portray the admiration they had for one another on the series as a couple. 

The 52-year-old actress went on to reveal that the connection she shared with Saum was deeper than anything she had encountered with her male counterparts in the 30 years she had been in the industry. 

"We already knew when we did the pilot that we were filming something incredible," Polo says. "To then go back to have that incredible feeling again was really crazy and wonderful."

The Real-Life Partners of the Couple

While she may be a mother of five on The Fosters, Polo is a single mom to her two children in real life. She has recently updated her Instagram bio which reads "J’s fiancé" but has remained silent about her engagement in the public. 

She had her son Griffin Moore with her ex-boyfriend, drummer Jamie Wollam, in 2002. She also has a daughter, Bayley Wollam, who is 13 years old and has walked the red carpet with her a few times.

The actress was previously married to actor Anthony Moore. The two split in the early 2000s. She also dated Wollam with whom she shared two children, although they aren't together as of today. 

Saum, on the other hand, married her longtime boyfriend and One Life to Live co-star Kamar de los Reyes on May 19, 2007, and the couple has been together ever since. 

On December 3, 2013, Saum announced that the couple was expecting twins and by May 2014, they were parents to twin boys John Rubén and Michael Luis.