Couple Bonnie Bartlett and William Daniels have revealed surprising new details about the inner workings of their impressive relationship.
William Daniels, 99, and Bonnie Bartlett, 96, will celebrate 75 years of marriage on June 30. The “Boy Meets World” actor and the “Little House on the Prairie” actress revealed to the Daily Mail the secrets of their decades-long romance.
She previously told Fox News that Daniels was her first boyfriend and that the two had an open relationship in the early years of their marriage.
Now, Bartlett has provided more details about this arrangement.
“It was never discussed what we were going to do, but after 75 years together, you know, it would be weird if… you weren’t attracted to other people from time to time”she said.
She added: “Yes, there were times when that happened, to both of them, on both sides.”
“There was something silent”she continued. “Will and I never sit down to make rules. We never sit down to discuss such things. We just don’t do it. We live our lives. And if he’s out for a year, then he’s out for a year.”
The couple, who married in 1951, had a busy schedule in Hollywood.
They each won two Emmy Awards for their roles on the hit medical series “St. Elsewhere“, the awards being given on the same evening in 1986.
“Our lives moved on but we never lost our balance but sometimes our lives took different directions.” Bartlett said.
“We’ve had our ups and downs, but family has held us all together,” she said, adding that their two sons and grandsons are the bond of the family.
After tragically losing their first son, William Jr., in 1961, just one day after his birth, the couple adopted two boys.
But even though the couple was happily married – and even played a married couple in three different film projects throughout their careers – their love story was one step away from ever starting.
Daniels remembers noticing Bartlett as an outstanding actress in a lecture hall at Northwestern University while she was reading an excerpt from a play.
“I looked over and there was a blonde in the back of the room, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, she looks interesting!’ So I waited for her as the class let out. And when he passed me, I said, “How about a coffee?” And she answered me: “You’re too short” Daniels recalls.
At the time, Bartlett was 18 years old and 1.27 cm shorter than Daniels, although she had since surpassed him in height
“I didn’t mean it to be an insultshe said now.I just wanted to say, “Oh, no, no, you’re too short, I’m too tall for you». And he said:Come on, be serious’, and we’ve been together ever since.”
