It's hard to know what makes a marriage stand the test of time. There are thousands of books on the market that promise to give us the secret. And people spend thousands of dollars a year going to therapy in hopes of achieving marital bliss. It's rare, especially in Hollywood, but it does happen. Just ask Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas.
The two have been married for over 20 years now. In Hollywood, that's basically an eternity. And it doesn't sound like they are miserable just yet. In fact, the opposite seems to be true.
Catherine opened up about her longtime marriage to Michael, who is 25 years older than her, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in 2021. She pointed to some incredibly important, yet simple, things she and Michael rely on to keep their relationship healthy, and, seemingly, exceptionally happy.
Those who are lucky enough to have lasting relationships know a thing or two about what makes them stick. So they're used to getting questions about what those important elements are. Catherine has likely had years of practice giving relationship advice, but she opened up about her 20+-year marriage in a 2021 interview with The Wall Street Journal.
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The actress said that they actually really like each other. Well, that's definitely important. "First of all, we have a lot of fun together," she told the outlet.
"My husband is 25 years older than me; that's not a secret. With any relationship, it wouldn't be normal if there weren't any ups and downs," she continued. She also pointed to the most crucial pieces of their relationship that help to maintain its health. "The constant is love and respect," she said. "We've never, ever lost our sense of humor, and we enjoy each other's company."
Sounds simple enough. Not really, though. When you're with the same person day in and day out, those simple elements can get lost in the shuffle. But love, respect, and humor are huge. According to Catherine, at the end of the day, you just want to be with someone you can laugh with. Ain't it the truth?
They've had plenty of opportunity to do just that, too. Given their unique work schedules, Catherine says they've spent loads of time together over the years. "My husband and I spend a lot of time together because, unlike so many couples, we've never had a 9-to-5 job where it's consistent. We're either on or we're off. I'm really working 16 hours a day, or I'm not. He's doing the same, or not. So we've had in our relationship huge amounts of time where we've been just us. We lived on the island of Bermuda for 12 years bringing up our kids. We respect each other's space, and our humor is just long-lasting."
Therefore, if they didn't genuinely love and enjoy one another, they never would've made it this far. But they have, and in the process, they've grown their family. The couple has two children together — son Dylan and daughter Carys.
Catherine and Michael really do seem to have something special. And they don't mind sharing the love, either. They're always posting sweet pictures of one another on Instagram, which is like PDA for famous people.
Their relationship pushes back against a lot of stigmas. The first being that Hollywood romances just don't last. The second being that age matters. Twenty-five years is a quarter of a century — a pretty huge gap. But somehow when it comes to this relationship, it doesn't seem to make a bit of difference.
On the couple's 20th anniversary, they each shared loving posts to one another. Catherine wrote, "20 years ago today Michael and I were married!! What an amazing magical night that was! And 7304.85 days and nights on, I love you now as I did then. ( except for the point 85 bit) Thank you for the love and laughter. ❤️❤️❤️❤️."
In Michael's post, he shared audio in which he describes their first meeting. It's a very sweet story about how he had his assistant find out if Catherine would be at an event so he'd have the chance to bump into her. "Happy 20th Anniversary my darling! I love you always and forever @catherinezetajones ❤️ (Volume ⬆️) #20years".
