The Kingsman actress stole the heart of Bart Freundlich, who directed her in a movie in 1997, and before they knew it they were a family.
Love comes in different shapes, sizes, colors, and ages. There is no ideal that people need to live by when it comes to love. Who we fall in love with is mostly out of our control. Actress Julianne Moore and her husband, Bart Freundlich, probably understand that better than many people. With a nine-year age gap, their love for each other surprised even them but after over 16 years together, Moore, 59, and Freundlich, 50, have found their rhythm together. They are as much in love as they were when they met, and their age gap has nothing to do with it.
While it may have been a concern initially, they are long past it. In 1997, the Kingsman actress had appeared in an independent film called The Myth of Fingerprints, which was Freundlich's directorial debut. Even before the film was released, she and the director fell in love and started a family. Their new-found love was a surprise to them initially.
"I remember looking at myself in the mirror and thinking, 'Don't even think about doing this!'" the director said about how they met, according to Good Housekeeping. However, the couple was intensely attracted to each other, and even when they had hesitation, they couldn't resist the attraction. "It was a huge difference! He was 26 and I was 35! But he seemed much older than his years, and age evaporated over time," said the Crazy, Stupid, Love actress. She called it "unexpected" but "it kept going".
"Now we have this huge history together," said she, according to Daily Mail.
They welcomed their first child, Cal, in December 1997. And daughter, Liv, who is a spitting image of her mother, in 2002. The almost-a-decade-long gap is easily forgotten when it comes to this couple.
"Sometimes you'll see Bart just looking at her with a huge grin on his face," said makeup artist Scott Barnes, who worked with the actress on her ads for Revlon. "Age isn't an issue. She's so young and vibrant. You know that energy you see from her on-screen? She's 10 times more so at home."
For those who find the age gap too wide, they will be pleased to know that relationships are no longer judged as they were in Mrs. Robinson's day. Her relationship is just a normal one. The couple faces the same challenges as others: How much time to give to your family and career? How much do you need to emotionally invest in your relationship? Are your partner's and your needs being met? Are you happy with them?
"We have this narrative in our culture that if you want a career, you have to work hard, go to school, look for a job, you have to apply yourself but love is supposed to just happen to you. One day you’re going to meet someone and get hit over the head and boom! That happens in romantic comedies but in real life you have to make time. When you find a person, you have to invest in them and that relationship. And that’s what love is," she told Daily Mail.
The Still Alice star equated her stable and long marriage to "a container", and added that her and her husband's container is "pretty good. It’s not airtight but it’s pretty good."
After seeing one child almost at the end of college and another about to head out of the nest, the mother-of-two thinks, "Wow we did it! We are intact and we are happy." Perhaps, the wonder and surprise come from the fact that not many couples around them did last.
She has shared how she looks at marriage and when she explained it, it sounded simple and beautiful. "Marriage is a partnership and it’s great to be interdependent with somebody and to do things for one another. Because that’s when you really thrive," she told the Telegraph.
References:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/julianne-moore-secret-happy-marriage-life-control/
