Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen are ‘still madly in love’ after 25 years of marriage as they discuss keeping the romance alive during quarantine
They know a thing or two about keeping the magic alive.
Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen admitted they’re ‘still madly in love’ after 25 years of marriage as they graced the cover of PEOPLE’s first annual Love Issue.
The couple reflected on their relationship after self-quarantining with each other for the last nine months amid the global pandemic at their home in Los Angeles.
Mary, 67, admitted before their socially-distant photo shoot that they ‘have been alone except for today for the last nine months.’
She added: ‘And we’ve decided to stay together.’
Danson, 73, chimed in: ‘Every morning we get to choose. It’s a rule.’
The pair first met when he auditioned to play her husband in the ’83 flick Cross Creek— and didn’t get the part.
Lucky in love: The couple reflected on their relationship after self-quarantining with each other for the last nine months amid the global pandemic at their home in Los Angeles; seen in 1994
Sweethearts: Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen admitted they’re ‘still madly in love’ after 25 years of marriage as they graced the cover of PEOPLE’s first annual Love Issue; seen in 2018
‘Which is a miracle, because man, I was a hot mess back then,’ he admitted before Steenburgen added: ‘I was married. He was married. That was not our moment.’
By the time they reunited years later on the ’93 film Pontiac Moon, ‘we both had sworn off relationships,’ Steenburgen said.
‘We both said the same phrase to ourselves, which was: “Obviously we cannot be in a relationship,”‘ Danson recalled. ‘I could ruin anything. I’m not relationship material.’
He had just ended a public relationship with Whoopi Goldberg and finalized his divorce from his second wife, Casey Coates.
‘There’s no hollow in my heart where I don’t love him, or where I doubt this love,’ Steenburgen said. ‘There’s no secret place where I say we weren’t a thousand percent supposed to spend our life together’
Blessed: With four children in their blended family — she has two kids from her first marriage to Malcom McDowell while he has two daughters with his second wife — they ‘relish’ the life they’ve created together; seen in 2013
‘Not to sound corny, but I would sign up for a 100 more lifetimes,’ Steenburgen said; pictured at the LA Women’s March in 2018
Her initial reactions were ‘that dude seems kind of complicated,’ but both felt an attraction. ‘I wasn’t ready for anything like a relationship,’ she added. ‘We just kept working together and becoming better and better friends.’
After a romantic outdoor adventure in Mendocino, California, the pair were inseparable.
‘It was very magical,’ The Good Place star said. ‘We came back in love, to be honest, or I’ll say smitten.’
With four children in their blended family — she has two kids from her first marriage to Malcom McDowell while he has two daughters with his second wife — they ‘relish’ the life they’ve created together.
‘I want as long as possible in my life with Mary,’ Danson said. ‘I know it will have all of its hard parts but I want to experience love in all those moments.’
‘Not to sound corny, but I would sign up for a 100 more lifetimes,’ Steenburgen said.
‘There’s no hollow in my heart where I don’t love him, or where I doubt this love. There’s no secret place where I say we weren’t a thousand percent supposed to spend our life together.’
‘I want as long as possible in my life with Mary,’ Danson said. ‘I know it will have all of its hard parts but I want to experience love in all those moments.’ (seen in 2018)