Brown was dating her roommate Linda in college and Henner didn't want to date him immediately after they broke up out of respect.
Marilu Henner and Michael Brown couldn't be more in love with each other but did you know that they waited 30 years to be a couple? They first met back in 1970 as college friends but dated over three decades later! The two were students at the University of Chicago. What took so long for them to get together? Well, at the time the two met, Brown was dating Henner's college roommate. Even after the couple broke up the Taxi actress didn't pursue him because she didn't want to break the "girlfriend code" of never dating a friend's ex, she told the New York Times. “My roommate Linda was dating him, and he would walk me back to the dorm from physics class to see her. I wish I had met him first.” Brown admitted he had no idea Henner was ever attracted to him at the time. “I had no idea she felt that way,” he confessed. "I’m a guy. I don’t have that radar.”
The two ended up marrying other people. In fact, Brown was invited to Henner's first marriage to actor Frederic Forrest. That marriage didn't work out and she later married Robert Lieberman. The 70-year-old told PEOPLE, "One of my marriages was all heat. The other one was all vision. With my third, Mr. Vision and Heat showed up. And that made all the difference. My husband and I are hot for each other. Even when I'm mad at him, I still think he's sexy. We always joke we can still have our five-show weekends."
The pair reconnected after a mutual friend gave Henner's telephone number to Brown and the two went on a date in the early 2000s. However, things took an unsuspected turn just two months into the relationship... Brown was first diagnosed with bladder cancer, and then lung cancer. When Brown was diagnosed Henner said her first thought was, “Failure is not an option. I was like … ‘I know a lot about health, I’m going to help you get back together,’ ” she said on Megyn Kelly Today in 2017. “I just kind of felt that I had to stay the course [for him].” Fortunately, with the help of effective medical treatments and a strong support system, her husband is now cancer-free and the two couldn't be happier together. They even came out with a book together Changing Normal: How I Helped My Husband Beat Cancer. According to The New York Times, Brown said, “We’re both building something for the future and she makes me a better partner.” His wife added, “I always thought that the person I married would be this great partner, but I didn’t think that he’d become my best friend.”
New post: Marilu Henner & Michael Brown: Love (and Health) is All You Need https://t.co/tK11AvCx7j pic.twitter.com/PgLeowkPNG
— Manhattan Digest (@ManhattanDigest) June 3, 2016
References:
https://people.com/tv/marilu-henner-found-the-key-to-great-sex-at-70-vision-and-heat/
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/fashion/weddings/24vows.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/fashion/weddings/for-marilu-henner-a-marriage-to-remember.html
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Bryan Bedder
