Zoe Saldana recalls storming out on Marco Perego right before he proposed

Zoe Saldaña was furious with Marco Perego in the moments leading up to their engagement.

During their appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show this week, the couple – who have now been married for over a decade – shed some light on what happened that led to that pivotal moment.

Right before he proposed in 2013, the Italian filmmaker, 45, slipped away from his unsuspecting girlfriend to first seek the permission of her late father, Aridio Saldaña, who died in 1987.

“I say to Zoe, ‘I’m going to New York, I need to do something for work.’ And I actually went to the Dominican Republic thanks [to] her stepfather and family,” he revealed, explaining that he intended on visiting his gravesite.

Once at his grave, Marco asked Aridio if he can marry Zoe.

But being the “spicy Latina” that she is (in Marco’s words), Zoe didn’t take kindly to all the secrecy and deception.

Marco recalled, “When I arrived back to London, she didn’t know I went there. She said ‘Wait, what do you mean?’ And I say, ‘I’ve been in a place but you need to wait a couple of hour and I’ll let you know.’”

Zoe chimed in, “And we’re in a cab in London in the middle of traffic… And I just get out of the cab and I’m walking in the middle of the street. And it was just very dramatic.”

Marco chased her down and tried to explain himself, but Zoe was would not let up so easily.

Eventually, though, he was able to pop the question.

Marco recalled, “I showed her the video [of his conversation with her father] and she said yes.”