“She’s unbelievably supportive and always has been,” Howard says of his wife.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on November 30, 2021. It has since been updated.
Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard has been married to his wife Cheryl for 48 years and they've dated for a little over five decades. Even after spending more than half their lives with each other, they still love each other dearly.
While this year, the director marked their anniversary on Instagram with an image of a scenic location and the caption, "#BarHarbor Cheryl and I celebrated our anniversary in #Maine and had a wonderful time," last year, on their 46th anniversary, Howard shared a picture of him with his beloved wife. "Our 46th Wedding anniversary," the Apollo 13 filmmaker captioned the post. "Celebrated quietly but beautifully on the #GoldCoast #QLD on my day off from directing. #ThirteenLives for #MGM and @imagineentertainment."
"I'm a lucky fella," the father of four added.
The former Happy Days star and Cheryl first started dating in high school, and they soon tied the knot on June 7, 1974. “I met her, and there was never anybody else,” Howard told PEOPLE in 2019. As for the secret behind his long-lasting marriage? Well, he says it's rather simple. All they need is proper "communication."
“People say, ‘How’d you do it?’ There’s no technique. There’s no tactic other than communication is really important. You have to learn to communicate and have difficult conversations in constructive ways,” says Howard. He doesn't deny the fact that there's also a factor of luck involved. “Beyond that, there’s an element of luck because people either grow together or they don’t and I don’t think you can force that.”
For their first date on November 1, 1970, the couple "went to see a re-release of Stanley Kramer’s It’s a Mad Mad Mad World and then got some pizza at now-defunct Barnone’s in Toluca Lake. Quite a start, right?" The details of his eventful date were revealed on his Instagram account, along with a picture of him wearing a pair of socks with his wife's face on them.
Then, in an interview with HuffPost, Ron added that he "felt really lucky" when they first met. "It's crazy—we were teenagers, it shouldn't have worked. We got married young, that shouldn't have worked either, and yet it really and truly has," Howard said.
The couple went on to raise four kids of their own, including Bryce Dallas Howard, 40, twins Paige and Jocelyn Howard, 36, and son Reed Howard, 34. They now have five grandkids as well.
He's also spoken about how Cheryl has been absolutely supportive throughout their time together. “She’s unbelievably supportive and always has been,” Howard says of his wife. “Our compatibility has endured through all kinds of experiences.”
References:
https://people.com/movies/ron-howard-opens-up-about-marrying-his-high-school-sweetheart/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CHDxMAQFl4s/?utm_source=ig_embed
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ron-howard-marriage_n_4163720
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Pascal Le Segretain
