Dick Van Dyke recently opened up about his marriage to Arlene Silver. The couple, who first met in 2007 and married in 2012, celebrated their 10th anniversary on February 29.
“She can go with the flow. She loves to sing and dance, which we do almost every day. She’s just delightful,” the 96-year-old award-winning actor told Closer.
While he gushed about their love for each other, he also expressed his concern about their 46-year age gap.
Prior to marrying Silver, Van Dyke was married to Margerie Willett, whom he had four children with. In 1976, the actor, singer, and dancer began what would be a 30-year relationship with Michelle Triola Marvin. The couple lived together until her death in 2009.
However, while the couple was still together an 81-year-old Van Dyke met a 35-year-old Silver.
Van Dyke was at the 2007 Screen Actors Guild Awards to present Julie Andrews with the Lifetime Achievement Award. While he was getting ready to go on stage, the 81-year-old began chatting with the makeup artist.
“He said, ‘Hi, I’m Dick,’” Silver recalled. “The first thing I asked him was, ‘Weren’t you in ‘Mary Poppins?’ We got along immediately as friends, so it didn’t feel like he was so much older than me.”
From there their relationship grew, but it was something that Van Dyke worried about, especially years later when the couple tied the knot.
“I thought there would be an outcry about a gold digger marrying an old man, but no one ever took that attitude.”
Despite their age difference, the two love going through life together.
“He is a lot of fun. He’s not immature in a bad way. He’s immature in a good way with the wonder of a child,” she told Parade in 2021. “He’s just fun, he’s open minded. He’s not stuck in his ways at all. We’re both like children. We feel like we’re both having a second childhood.”
Dick Van Dyke and Arlene Silver are perfect for each other! I’m so glad they crossed paths and found one another.
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