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The couple first met in 1983 when Danson auditioned to play Steenburgen’s spouse onCross Creek; however, it wasn’t until 1993, on the set ofPontiac Moon, that their relationship turned romantic. The couple wed in 1995 and have since starred in several projects together, includingCurb Your EnthusiasmandIt Must Be Love.
“I want as long as possible inmy life with Mary,” Danson told PEOPLE in 2021. “I know it will have all of its hard parts but I want to experience love in all those moments.”
Steenburgen echoed the sentiment, telling PEOPLE in 2018 that she “would sign up for100 more lifetimes” with Danson. TheBook Clubactress believes they were meant to be together.
“There’s no hollow in my heart where I don’t love him, or where I doubt this love,” she said. “There’s no secret place where I say we weren’t a thousand percent supposed to spend our life together.”
From a romantic canoe trip tosweet Instagram tributes, here’s everything to know about Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen’s relationship.
1983: Ted Danson meets Mary Steenburgen while auditioning forCross Creek
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Danson and Steenburgen’s paths first crossed in 1983 when he auditioned to play her on-screen husband inCross Creek. He didn’t get the part, which was “a miracle” in hindsight, as Danson later told PEOPLE in 2021.
“I wasa hot messback then,” Danson said. Steenburgen added, “I was married. He was married. That was not our moment.” That moment came nearly a decade later.
1993: Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen reconnect while filmingPontiac Moon
Ten years later, Danson and Steenburgenreconnected as costarsin the 1993 filmPontiac Moon. However, they thought dating was off the table. “We both had sworn off relationships,” Steenburgen recalled to PEOPLE in 2021.
At the time, Danson had just split fromWhoopi Goldbergand was finalizing his divorce from his second wife, Casey Coates, with whom he shares daughters Kate and Alexis. Steenburgen had also recently divorced her first husband Malcolm McDowell, with whom she shares kidsCharles “Charlie” Malcolmand Lily Amanda.
“We both said the same phrase to ourselves, which was: ‘Obviously we cannot be in a relationship,’ " Danson said. “I could ruin anything. I’m not relationship material.”
Steenburgen added, “I wasn’t ready for anything like a relationship. We just kept working together and becoming better and better friends.”
Their friendship took a romantic turn after Danson invited Steenburgen on a canoe trip with friends in Mendocino, California. “It was very magical,” he said. “We came back in love, to be honest, or I’ll say smitten.”
“We met when we were 40 and 45, and we had lived a bit,” Steenburgen told PEOPLE in 2018. “We met at a time when both of us had stared down some demons within ourselves and that waslucky that we met then.”
February 8, 1995: Ted Danson proposes to Mary Steenburgen
On Steenburgen’s birthday in 1995, Danson flew to Houston, where his soon-to-be fiancée was filmingPowder.
“I was so clear I didn’t want to be with anyone else — couldn’t imagine not being with her at all times,” Danson told PEOPLE. TheCheersstar said he spent about a month preparing what he wanted to say beforegetting down on one knee.
October 7, 1995: Ted Danson marries Mary Steenburgen
Danson’s daughter Kate and Steenburgen’s daughter Lily served as bridesmaids, while Danson’s youngest, Alexis, walked the aisle as the flower girl. Steenburgen’s son Charlie was the ring bearer.
1996: Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen star inGulliver’s Travels
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The couple costarredin the late-’90s miniseriesGulliver’s Travels. Danson portrayed Dr. Lemuel Gulliver and Steenburgen played Gulliver’s wife, Mary.
2004: Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen star inIt Must Be Love
The 2004 rom-comIt Must Be Lovemarked Danson and Steenburgen’s return to the big screen as a couple. They portrayed a married couple on the cusp of divorce who fall back in love with each other when a big snowstorm traps them under the same roof.
December 16, 2009: Ted Danson and family celebrate Mary Steenburgen’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star
October 28, 2013: Mary Steenburgen describes Ted Danson as “heaven-sent”
Steenburgen opened up about married life with Danson and recalled how she almost gave up on dating altogether before meeting him.
“I had actually, before I met him, gotten a little cynical about love,” shetoldCBS This Morning. “I thought infatuation was about as far as it went, and then I met him.”
She continued, “He’s the real deal for me. He’s definitely heaven-sent.”
October 2017: Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen squash divorce rumors
Danson and Steenburgen were just as shocked as fans were when they found out their characters onCurb Your Enthusiasmwere separating. The couple play dramatized versions of themselves on the partially improvised sitcom.
Steenburgen later recalled how Danson broke the news of their fictional split during an appearance onThe Jess Cagle Show: “I go, ‘Wait, that’s the story? That you and I are divorced?’ And he goes, ‘Yeah.’ I go, ‘Ted, it’s our names. We’re playing two characters that happen to have the same names as us.’ "
“It was very strange,” Danson said.
January 11, 2018: Mary Steenburgen congratulates her “darling heart” Ted Dansonon Critic’s Choice Awards win
“Congrats tomy darling hearton his Critic’s Choice Award!!!!” Steenburgen wrote alongside a selfie with her husband. Danson was awarded best actor in a comedy series for his performance onThe Good Place.
May 15, 2018: Mary Steenburgen shares how Ted Danson keeps the romance alive
“He does tell me every single day of my life I’m beautiful, and I do know a lot of women live without that,” she said. “And it does matter, someone just telling you that.”
November 9, 2018: Mary Steenburgen opens up about her marriage to Ted Danson in PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive issue
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Steenburgen could talk about how much she loves her husband all day — and in 2018, she shared why she believes he isthe sexiest man alive. “[Our love] just gets more profound and deeper as we go through the blessings and joys, but also the hurdles, of life together,” Steenburgen said of Danson, who was featured in PEOPLE’s 2018 Sexiest Man Alive issue. “He is my partner in the deepest sense of the word in this life.”
She continued: “[This] is a marriage where the man in the marriage is secure in both his kindness and tenderness, but also in his strength. I definitely feel that he is the result of almost like dreams I had when I was young about someone I would want to spend my life with, and I really cherish that and I think neither of us take each other for granted.”
She added that his facial features are just the cherry on top: “I love the strong jawbone.”
October 17, 2019: Ted Danson says meditation allows him to be more present with Mary Steenburgen
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Danson and Steenburgentook up meditationshortly after their 1995 wedding, and the practice continues to play a pivotal role for them. “The truth is my relationship with Mary is a big huge part of my spirituality,” Danson told PEOPLE in October 2019.
“I feel like you’re either in love, or you’re in fear, and that’s it,” Danson said. “And because Mary and I really, really love each other, if one person is all of the sudden not in the space of love, it’s like pulling an electric cord out, all of the sudden it’s like, ‘Whoa, what happened?’ What’s wonderful about her is she insists, insists that we stay in love! You don’t get to drift.”
The couple reap the benefits of meditation together. “Here’s my excuse. Mary and I love hanging out. And we will chat and hang out and chat and hang out, and all of a sudden leap up and have to do our day. So it almost feels selfish to go meditate,” he explained. “If we meditate consistently it’s because we do it together.”
October 8, 2020: Mary Steenburgen wishes her “dreamboat husband” Ted Danson a happy anniversary
On the couple’s25th wedding anniversary, Steenburgen posted a sweet tribute to her husband on Instagram. Alongside a photo of her smiling next to Danson, who had salad stuck in his teeth, she wrote, “Happy 25th Anniversary! This was SUPPOSED to be a sweet loving anniversary photo but you have a big piece of salad in your teeth. So there it is.”
She continued, “Thank you for making me laugh today and every single one of the last 9,125 days. You are the goofiest, wisest, kindest, dreamboat in the world. True, that is a big ass piece of salad but even that doesn’t mar your legendary beauty. I can’t believe how lucky I am. Happy Anniversary, Ted. Love, Mary.”
January 5, 2021: Ted Danson says his “greatest role” in life is being Mary Steenburgen’s husband
Ahead of the season 2 premiere ofZoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, Danson praised Steenburgen, who plays landscape designer and mom Maggie Clark on the NBC comedy.
“My greatest role isgetting to be the husbandof this incredible woman,” Danson wrote on Instagram. In the photo, Danson is smiling at the camera while Steenburgen sneaks two fingers behind his head as bunny ears.
February 2021: Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen are on the cover of PEOPLE’s first-ever Love Issue
In February 2021, Danson and Steenburgen werefeatured on the coverof PEOPLE’s first-ever Love Issue, where they opened up about all things love and shared their secrets to a happy marriage.
“Everyone I’ve ever loved has taught me so much, but I feel like my life really began when I found him,” Steenburgen said of Danson. “I think love is just really listening to your heart.”
The couple also said spending quality time together helps keep the love alive, and Danson added that his only rule is to “just tell the truth.”
Danson continued: “If you keep being grateful for your life, your heart gets bigger. The bigger your heart, the more you get to love. Part of being human is to experience loving and being loved. I have that every day. When that kind of circle of love and being loved gets going, it’s truly divine.”
September 4, 2021: Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen celebrate son Charlie’s wedding to Lily Collins
On Sept. 4, 2021, the couple welcomedEmily in ParisstarLily Collinsinto the family when Charlie — Steenburgen’s son from her first marriage — and Collinstied the knotin Dunton, Colorado.
“Charlie, my son, and Lily,my daughter-in-law!!!” Steenburgen wrote alongside a sweet photo of the newlyweds on Instagram.
“Thank you for letting us all bask in the sheer beauty of your love for each other,” Steenburgen continued. “My heart is overflowing and it almost feels like the last few days were some sort of beautiful dream. But it is all real, and I feel like the luckiest mother in the world.”
April 17, 2022: Ted Danson jokes he’s “helpless” when Mary Steenburgen is away
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“She’s gone tonight and we’re distraught,” he laughed. “It’s like I’ve turned helpless to be honest.”
HostKelly Clarksonadded, “It’s a codependency. It’s awesome,” to which Danson nodded with a smile.
March 15, 2023: Malcolm McDowell says he has a “fantastic” relationship with his ex-wife Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson
There’s no bad blood between McDowell and Steenburgen, who were married for 10 years after meeting on the set of the 1979 filmTime After Time.
In fact, McDowell told PEOPLE that Steenburgen and Danson “are a wonderful couple,” and that he has a “fantastic” relationship with both of them.The Employeractor added that the trio often see each other at family gatherings.
“I was sitting at my granddaughter’s 10th birthday party with Mary, Ted, and we were sitting there with the three granddaughters and my two children with Mary … And I was sitting there and I looked at her and I went, ‘This is all because ofTime After Time,’ " he said.
June 2, 2023: Ted Danson saysCheershad to end for him to reconnect with Mary Steenburgen
Danson leftCheersin 1993. As the lead of the show, his decision ultimately led to the conclusion of the beloved series.
“In my defense, we’d all been talking for a couple of years [about ending the series],” he told the audience. “If I had not stopped and gotten it together,I would never have met my wife.”
February 4, 2024: Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen attend the Grammys
Dressed to the nines, the couple attended the 66th annualGrammy Awardsin Los Angeles. Steenburgen dazzled in a sparkly black gown, while Danson looked dapper in a blue velvet suit jacket paired with black pants.
source: people.com
