{"id":8211,"date":"2024-10-28T22:07:24","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T22:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/?p=8211"},"modified":"2024-10-29T13:18:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T13:18:00","slug":"billy-crystal-shares-the-secret-to-his-54-year-marriage-to-extraordinary-wife-janice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/2024\/10\/billy-crystal-shares-the-secret-to-his-54-year-marriage-to-extraordinary-wife-janice.html","title":{"rendered":"Billy Crystal Shares the Secret to His 54-Year Marriage to ‘Extraordinary’ Wife Janice"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ron Adar \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Billy Crystal is sharing the common goal that has kept his long marriage to his wife, Janice, thriving. The 76-year-old actor and his 75-year-old wife, who have two daughters, Jennifer (51) and Lindsay (46), have been married for 54 years after first meeting as teenagers.<\/p>\n

Crystal recently\u00a0spoke to\u00a0Fox News Digital<\/em> about the core values and mutual goals that have sustained his marriage over<\/span>\u00a0the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cHumor and trust and constantly being interested in what each of us are doing and respecting our separate lives and who we are,\u201d he said, emphasizing the importance of these elements. \u201cBut our common goal was always just to raise a beautiful family, which we have and continue to do, he added. And just respect each other. And she’s an extraordinary person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m lucky,\u201d Crystal reflected. \u201cI was 18. She was 17. And here we still are.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple met in 1966 when Crystal was working at a summer camp in Long Beach, New York, after his first year at Marshall University in West Virginia. \u201cThis girl walks by … and I said, ‘I\u2019m gonna marry her.’ And I did, four years later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crystal, a six-time Emmy Award winner, transferred to Nassau Community College on Long Island to be closer to Janice during his sophomore year. \u201cI loved her so much right away,\u201d he said. \u201cYou know, I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve ever been in a long-distance relationship \u2014 they don\u2019t work out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple got married in June 1970 and welcomed their daughters Jennifer and Lindsay in the following years.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on how parenthood transformed his life, Crystal told People magazine<\/em>, \u201cOh, children change everything.\u201d He recalled that when he first became a father in 1973, Janice was working while he was launching his career in stand-up comedy. \u201cDuring the day, I was \u2018Mr. Mom\u2019 and that changed my life totally.\u201d \u201cThe responsibility as a 25-year-old with an infant that can’t get through the day without you,\u201d Crystal continued. \u201cWhen you learn that you can love something much more than yourself, it was the greatest experience in my life as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

He expressed that his life’s work has been about leaving a legacy through his daughters and grandchildren. \u201cThat’s been my total effort of my life is to leave the world with two amazing daughters \u2014 grown women now, mothers of their own,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnd that they then teach their children, our four grandchildren, what it means, the responsibility in our world, which is changing constantly.\u201d<\/p>\n

After establishing himself in stand-up, Crystal starred in the TV sitcom \u201cSoap\u201d from 1977 to 1981 and had his first film role in Joan Rivers’ 1978 comedy \u201cRabbit Test.\u201d He later appeared in Rob Reiner’s 1984 \u201cThis is Spinal Tap\u201d and starred in films like \u201cRunning Scared\u201d (1986) and \u201cThrow Momma From the Train\u201d (1987). His career skyrocketed with his role in the 1989 romantic comedy \u201cWhen Harry Met Sally.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Billy Crystal is sharing the common goal that has kept his long marriage to his wife, Janice, thriving. The 76-year-old actor and his 75-year-old wife, who have two daughters, Jennifer (51) and Lindsay (46), have been married for 54 years after first meeting as teenagers. Crystal recently\u00a0spoke to\u00a0Fox News Digital about the core values and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":462,"featured_media":8241,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBilly Crystal Shares the Secret to His 54-Year Marriage to 'Extraordinary' Wife Janice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Billy Crystal is sharing the common goal that has kept his 54-year marriage to his wife, Janice, thriving.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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