After nearly three decades of marriage, James Brolin still laughs when he remembers the very first words Barbra Streisand ever said to him on their blind date:

“Who messed up your hair?”

It might not sound romantic, but for Brolin, that honest comment sealed the deal.

“That night was something,” the 84-year-old actor told People in a recent interview. “I thought, ‘This girl tells the truth right from the beginning. I’m crazy about her.’”

The two Hollywood legends almost didn’t meet at all. Brolin had been single for three years and wasn’t looking for another relationship. Streisand wasn’t sure about the setup either. But something pushed them both to go through with it, even after picking up the phone to cancel.

“Halfway there, we both picked up the phone to cancel, and something told us, ‘No. Let’s just do it,’” Brolin said.

When Streisand saw Brolin walk in, she was surprised. She had expected someone with long curly hair and a beard—how he looked on his hit show Hotel. But Brolin had just shaved his head. That’s when she delivered her now-famous line.

The couple met in 1996, married in 1998, and have been together ever since. According to Brolin, part of what makes their marriage work is Streisand’s trust and generosity.

“She’s very giving,” he said. “One thing she does that some women have a terrible time with is asking, ‘Where were you? That only takes 20 minutes. You’ve been gone two hours.’ She never asked me anything like that. And I just feel this incredible loyalty because of it.”

He added, “With her, I love everything she does. People argue with her about her choices, and then in the end, when given enough time, they find out she was right in the first sentence.”

Streisand reflected on their relationship in her 2023 memoir, My Name is Barbra, crediting their willingness to grow together:

“I think the real reason our relationship has endured is that we’re both willing to work at it,” she wrote.

She also noted their different personalities: “Jim and I are very different. As he’s said to me, ‘You’re an expert at looking for what’s wrong, while I’m just happy to wake up in the morning.’”

Streisand was previously married to actor Elliott Gould, while Brolin had been married twice before. But it seems that when God brought them together, it was the right time and the right person—curious comment about a haircut and all.

And after 27 years of love, loyalty, and laughter, it’s clear their story is one that was meant to be.