When it comes to his marriage, Michael McDonald largely credits his wife for the success of it. In his new memoir, What a Fool Believes, the 72-year-old singer highlighted the moment he met Amy Holland and how his life was forever changed.
The two met in a studio in 1980 while the now 70-year-old singer was producing her album, On Your Every Word. Their love story unfolded from there. Michael and Amy ended up getting married in 1983 and share two children together, Scarlett, 33, and Dylan, 36.
In his book, Michael opened up about how their relationship was far from perfect. He further shared that Amy's patience helped them to get to where they are today.
"We are not perfect for sure. And a big part of the success of my marriage is my wife's forgiveness of my behavior over the years and my selfishness is what it comes down to and dealing with all the character defects that come from my own fear of life," the singer told People.
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Michael dealt with substance abuse for a portion of his life before getting sober 27 years ago. He says it's "by the grace of God and the people that I was lucky enough to meet along the way that I'm even still here today."
In 1986, Amy was diagnosed with breast cancer. After undergoing aggressive chemotherapy, she's now cancer-free, but it was that experience where Michael says his wife got him through.
"I learned so much from her in that experience about love. And those are things that even at the rough times that we might've had later because we're married," he shared. "I always had that to hang on to as far as who she was and how important is she really to me."
"I'm a firm believer in the worst things that happened to us inevitably without fail, turn out to be the best things that ever happened to us if we survive them," he continued. "There are these silver linings in the worst things that happen that you can't get any other way, and sad to say, but it's part of life. It's kind of the way life works and maybe the way God intended it to work."
"We find ourselves through those moments. I remember at the bleakest part of that whole thing, realizing that my wife and I were discovering what it means to love somebody else in ways that we might have never discovered it any other way," he concluded. "Although I wouldn't want to go through it again for any reason, I am grateful for those lessons."
He expressed that those moments kept their marriage together and made him realize what he admired most about Amy. "She put us first, even at the darkest times in that struggle. That says a lot about her."
