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 spoke to Fox News Digital about the core values and mutual goals that have sustained his marriage over the years.
“Humor and trust and constantly being interested in what each of us are doing and respecting our separate lives and who we are,” he said, emphasizing the importance of these elements. “But 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.”
“I’m lucky,” Crystal reflected. “I was 18. She was 17. And here we still are.”
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. “This girl walks by … and I said, ‘I’m gonna marry her.’ And I did, four years later.”
Crystal, a six-time Emmy Award winner, transferred to Nassau Community College on Long Island to be closer to Janice during his sophomore year. “I loved her so much right away,” he said. “You know, I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a long-distance relationship — they don’t work out.”
The couple got married in June 1970 and welcomed their daughters Jennifer and Lindsay in the following years.
Reflecting on how parenthood transformed his life, Crystal told People magazine, “Oh, children change everything.” He recalled that when he first became a father in 1973, Janice was working while he was launching his career in stand-up comedy. “During the day, I was ‘Mr. Mom’ and that changed my life totally.” “The responsibility as a 25-year-old with an infant that can’t get through the day without you,” Crystal continued. “When you learn that you can love something much more than yourself, it was the greatest experience in my life as a person.”
He expressed that his life’s work has been about leaving a legacy through his daughters and grandchildren. “That’s been my total effort of my life is to leave the world with two amazing daughters — grown women now, mothers of their own,” he explained. “And that they then teach their children, our four grandchildren, what it means, the responsibility in our world, which is changing constantly.”
After establishing himself in stand-up, Crystal starred in the TV sitcom “Soap” from 1977 to 1981 and had his first film role in Joan Rivers’ 1978 comedy “Rabbit Test.” He later appeared in Rob Reiner’s 1984 “This is Spinal Tap” and starred in films like “Running Scared” (1986) and “Throw Momma From the Train” (1987). His career skyrocketed with his role in the 1989 romantic comedy “When Harry Met Sally.”