Hollywood's longest-married couple, William Daniels and Bonnie Bartlett, address open marriage comments
Hollywood's longest-married couple, William Daniels and Bonnie Bartlett, have insisted it would have been "abnormal" if they hadn't had affairs with other people during their 75-year marriage.
William Daniels and Bonnie Bartlett have insisted it would have been "abnormal" if they hadn't had affairs with other people during their 75-year marriage.
The Little House on the Prairie actress revealed three years ago that she and the 99-year-old actor had had an "open marriage" earlier in their union, and while she has now insisted her comments were taken to be "more than it was", the 96-year-old star admitted they had an unspoken agreement about their antics when working away from each other.
In a joint interview with the Daily Mail, Bonnie - who wrote about their respective affairs in her 2023 memoir Middle of the Rainbow - said when asked about her open marriage comments: "It's funny, the press will pick up on something and make more of it than it was.
"There was never any discussion as to what we were going to do, but in 75 years, the two of you together, you know, it would be abnormal if you… weren't attracted occasionally to other people.
"'So there have been times, yeah, both of us, on both sides, yeah, and that is in the book,' she said.
"It was non-spoken. Bill and I never sit down and make rules. We never sit down and talk about these things. We just don't. We just live our lives. And if he's away for a year, he's away for a year.
"Our lives just went on, but we never got unhinged.... We never got unhinged, but our lives did go in different directions occasionally."
The couple will celebrate their 75th anniversary in June and couldn't imagine being with anyone else.
Former Boy Meets World star William said: "I wouldn’t be with anyone else in my life than this woman sitting next to me.”
Bonnie added: "It just happened. You don’t plan for it. You really don’t plan for it. I’m not at all romantic or anything like that. I’m a big believer in today, you know? And then all of the sudden it’s 75 years. It’s kind of amazing, I must say. ‘It is amazing, especially in our business.”
The couple - who adopted sons Michael, 62, and Robert, 60, after their son William Jr. passed away just a day after his birth in 1961 - admitted they are now "a little bit hampered" when it comes to their physical health.
Bonnie said: "Physically, you know, we're a little bit, hampered, I guess? My vision isn't good and... I can walk, I mean, I can walk.
"Bill has trouble, some trouble walking, and his memory isn't as good as mine, but we're fine, and we're happy, and we have this wonderful family of ours right near us, our son Michael and his family.
"And they're right near us and they take care of us, as well as we have two ladies that take care of us. One does business and one does care and we have awfully good help.
"All of that family is wonderful, and that's what really keeps you together, because you become… in our case, it's not only a family, it's a business. So we are all in it together."
