ET’s with the “NCIS” hunk as he makes a French connection!

“NCIS” star MICHAEL WEATHERLY, who plays Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, was very much an American in Paris when he flew to the City of Lights for a photo shoot for the June cover of CBS’ Watch! magazine.

“Normally, on my break from ‘NCIS,’ because we work long hours, I like to go and veg,” Michael tells ET. “Sit on a beach somewhere, maybe lose 10 pounds and try to get back to some semblance of shape. Instead, I went to Paris, ate foie gras, drank red wine and did a lot of press — the show is very popular in Europe.”

It wasn’t until the CBS star arrived at the Hôtel de Crillon and went for a walk up the Champs-Élysées that he became conscious of just how well-known the procedural drama is overseas.

“That is when I realized that the DiNozzo head slap is very popular,” he says. “I was suddenly signing autographs and thinking of instantly retiring to Paris.”

This wasn’t by any means Michael’s first trip to France. He lived in the red-light district of Paris the summer he was 19, while attending the American University. He got to know the ladies of the evening as he made his way to and from school, but says he was too broke to ever “visit” with them.

He recalls: “So my mom came to visit, of course, and we are walking down the street and every hooker is, ‘Bonjour Michael.’ And I am, ‘Mom, they don’t know me. They just see me all the time.’ My mom was, ‘There are a lot of ladies in the neighborhood.’”

For more of Michael’s Parisian vacation, tune in to tonight’s ET. Then catch “NCIS” at 8 p.m. on CBS.