Mary Poppins star Dick Van Dyke has spoken about the moment he laid eyes on his future wife, Arlene Silver.
The 98-year-old gushed over his wife of 12 years in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, revealing they were “meant to be”.
It all happened backstage at the 2006 SAG Awards. Van Dyke was sitting on a couch when he spotted Silver.
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“I never approached a strange woman in my life,” he told the outlet, “And she walked by and I jumped and I said, ‘Hi, I’m Dick.’ I had no idea she was half my age. Beautiful.”
At the time, Van Dyke was 80 and Silver was 34. He got her business card and decided to hire her, as she was working as a makeup artist.
From there, their relationship started to blossom.
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Dick Van Dyke through the years: 1948-2018
“We were friends for so long that when I told people that I know, they were happy about [our relationship], and I was scared,” Silver, now 52, said.
“I mean, the facts, our age difference. But it’s so irrelevant. I think when you see us together, it’s like you don’t think about it.
“I’ve never met anyone like him. He’s always happy and just positive. Always singing, and I would never sing in public,” she gushed in return, “He’s just the most joyful person. He influences everybody else to be more joyful, playful.”
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The Mary Poppins star added, “I was fortunate that I didn’t grow up.”
Silver moved in with Van Dyke in 2011 and married him just one year later.
Though they have no children together, he does share four children with his first wife, Margerie Willett. They divorced in 1984 after a long separation. Following that, he was in a relationship with Michelle Triola Marvin, living with her from 1976 until her death in 2009.
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