{"id":2427196,"date":"2026-05-21T23:00:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T23:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2427196"},"modified":"2026-05-21T23:00:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T23:00:30","slug":"william-daniels-wife-talks-wiggle-room-in-75-year-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/william-daniels-wife-talks-wiggle-room-in-75-year-marriage\/","title":{"rendered":"William Daniels\u2019 Wife Talks \u2018Wiggle Room\u2019 in 75-Year Marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Boy Meets World<\/em><\/a> star William Daniels<\/strong><\/a> and wife Bonnie Bartlett<\/strong> are nearing their 75th wedding anniversary, revealing the secret to their lasting relationship comes with being able to \u201cadjust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bartlett, who wrote in her 2023 memoir, Middle of the Rainbow<\/em>, that she and Daniels briefly had an \u201copen marriage\u201d after exchanging their vows in June 1951, said their connection has grown stronger over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, we\u2019ve been together, actually, 78 years<\/a> because it was three years in college. We met at Northwestern [University]. Right, Bill?\u201d Bartlett, 96, told Page Six<\/em><\/a> on Thursday, May 21, while sitting beside her spouse, 99. \u201cAnd so we\u2019ve really been together a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bartlett noted, \u201cLife is all adjustment,\u201d explaining that her and Daniels\u2019 relationship has followed that same motto.<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>William Daniels and Wife Bonnie Bartlett’s Complete Relationship Timeline<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tBoy Meets World star William Daniels and wife Bonnie Bartlett are living proof that Hollywood marriages can last, with a love story spanning more than seven decades. The twosome met while studying acting at Northwestern University and tied the knot in 1951. Despite their commitment to each other, the duo has been candid about facing [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIt suddenly got hot here [in Los Angeles], and it got hard to breathe and to move around. You have to kind of adjust to the heat. And that\u2019s what life\u2019s all about,\u201d Bartlett explained. \u201cIs adjusting to whatever your circumstances are and however you move along. And certainly a marriage is full of adjustments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Little House on the Prairie<\/em> actress admitted that there has to be some \u201cwiggle room\u201d in a marriage in order for it to survive \u2014 whether you\u2019re a Hollywood couple or not.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Daniels\u2019 humor and Bartlett\u2019s ability to be more \u201cintrospective\u201d has led to a long and happy life for the pair, who share two sons, Michael, 62, and Robert, 60. (The pair\u2019s first child, William Daniels Jr., died 24 hours after he was born.)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work together. We live together,\u201d Bartlett said of her relationship<\/a>. \u201cThere\u2019s nobody else that we want to live with. We know how to live with each other. We always have.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Bonnie Bartlett, William Daniels.<\/span> Bill Reitzel\/TV Guide\/ABC\/Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Daniels, meanwhile, joked that when people ask him for \u201cmarriage advice,\u201d he replies, \u201cDon\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

The St. Elsewhere<\/em> alum<\/a> didn\u2019t clarify whether he meant \u201cdon\u2019t get married\u201d or \u201cdon\u2019t ask him for advice,\u201d but the blunt response caused Bartlett to chuckle.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just likes to make me laugh,\u201d Bartlett said, noting that her husband is \u201cnot introspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the actress, Daniels makes her laugh \u201cevery day\u201d and is \u201cthere for the humor and fun\u201d no matter what the situation.<\/p>\n

The couple\u2019s talk of marriage comes after Bartlett made headlines in January 2023 when she revealed they had an open marriage in the early 1950s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat didn\u2019t work well,\u201d she recalled to Fox News Digital<\/em><\/a> of her and Daniels\u2019 brief romantic entanglement. \u201cAnd it was a time when people were doing that. It was at a time in New York when there was a lot of sex and a lot of people doing all kinds of things, you know \u2014 very free.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bartlett revealed in her 2023 memoir, Middle of the Rainbow<\/em>, that she had \u201can affair that lasted a few months\u201d with an actor who was \u201cslightly boring.\u201d She also wrote that Daniels had an affair with a producer in New York but they both eventually \u201cgrew up\u201d and recommitted to one another fully.<\/p>\n

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\n Bonnie Bartlett and William Daniels on \u2018Boy Meets World.\u2019<\/span> Touchstone Television\/Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBill and I have moved forward day-by-day and eventually, the days added up,\u201d she wrote in her book. \u201cWe\u2019ve been happy together and sad together, and somehow stayed together for seven decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bartlett expanded on that timeframe in her and Daniels\u2019 relationship earlier this month, telling the Daily Mail<\/em><\/a> that her \u201copen marriage\u201d comments were taken to be \u201cmore\u201d than it actually was.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere 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 \u2026 weren\u2019t attracted occasionally to other people,\u201d she told the outlet on Monday, May 18.<\/p>\n

Bartlett shared that she and Daniels had a \u201cnon-spoken\u201d agreement back in the day, but there was never a \u201csit down\u201d to \u201cmake rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never sit down and talk about these things. We just don\u2019t. We just live our lives. And if he\u2019s away for a year, he\u2019s away for a year,\u201d she recalled. \u201cOur lives just went on, but we never got unhinged. \u2026 But our lives did go in different directions occasionally.\u201d<\/p>\n

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