Candice Bergen and Louis Malle were married from 1980 to 1995, which is when he passed away because of lymphoma.
Candice Bergen, 74, will always remind us of the sitcom Murphy Brown. Her wit, charm, and sassiness got her through many a hard situation. While we know Bergen for her sitcom character, we are not aware of how hard it has been for her to keep performing while saying goodbye to her beloved husband, French filmmaker Louis Malle.
She married Malle when she was 34 and they were together until his death in 1995. They had an unusual marriage but they stuck by each other through their 15 years together. In her memoir, A Fine Romance, she talks about her relationship with Malle and more.
"It was an unusually wise choice by both of us to not rush into a romantic relationship," Bergen said but was interjected by the CBS interviewer, who pointed out that they married within months. Bergen then replied, "Yeah, six months. It was fast!" She added, "When you've dated a lot of people and you're 34, you kind of know."
She told NPR, "When you're advanced in life, you - your antenna go up very quickly when you think you have met someone where there will be a deep connection. And that happened with both of us. He was a very brilliant man. He could be incredibly charming, as only a Frenchman can be. I was just fascinated by him and trusted him."
The actress and the filmmaker got married in 1980 and welcomed their daughter, Chloe, five years later. The Miss Congeniality actress was cast as Murphy Brown in 1988. The sitcom ran for 11 seasons and during that time the couple worked in different countries.
Their marriage was unique as it was long-distance for most of the time, which she recalls as being "very hard" on her marriage. "It's one of those times where life gets messy, and there is not much to do," she said. "So I would fly Chloe to New York a week a month to be with my husband. And the idea was he would be in LA for a week, and I would be in New York for a week. And for two weeks, we would be separate. But of course, being in the film business or television and film is very hard when both people are in that business," she added.
However, their jet setting had to end when Malle was diagnosed with lymphoma. The Boston Legal actress describes feeling "black anger" when she had to see her partner suffer.
"It's like your life as you know it - and I'm only talking about myself because let's not forget, this happened to my husband, who was the most dynamic man I'd ever met. He had endless reserves of energy. So to - I've been struck by a disease that incapacitated him, eventually totally - was incredibly cruel," she said.
"Dealing with that for anyone in our household was like our life was hijacked overnight. And the priority becomes the person who is stricken. And because it's a catastrophic disease, it is very dramatic, and it is very painful to watch someone that you care about that deeply be struck down," the 74-year-old actress added.
The Gandhi actress also revealed the beautiful way her daughter's relationship unfolded with Malle. Until then, they hadn't been able to establish a close bond with all the flying back and forth.
"They just were built in, and they came home to roost once Chloe was of a certain age. And she knew that what she should do is to take care of her father. She did it on her own. And she did it beautifully and brilliantly. And she did it with courage and with humor. She, for example, went to Disneyland one day, and she brought him back Goofy slippers that were big, padded Goofy slippers that he wore and was buried in because he just loved them and would never take them off. And she would read to him every night. It's very hard, very hard on a child," said Bergen.
The actress also added that her memoir was a love letter to her daughter. Bergen, who has since married again, became a grandmom recently. Chloe and her husband Graham McGrath Albert welcomed a baby boy on May 19, 2020.
References:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/candice-bergen-and-her-fine-romances/
https://www.npr.org/2015/04/05/397620775/candace-bergen-on-marriage-death-and-murphy-browns-demons
