Jeff Bridges and Wife Susan Reveal Secret to Happy 48-Year Marriage: 'Don't Get a Divorce'

The couple tied the knot in June 1977 and share three daughters together

Jeff Bridges and his wife Susan are still loved-up after 48 years of marriage.

Ahead of being honored at the 49th Chaplin Award Gala in New York City on April 29, Jeff, 74, spoke to EXTRAabout the secret to a strong relationship.

“Don’t get a divorce — that’s key. And meet all those ups and downs as kind of challenges and opportunities," The Big Lebowski actor told the outlet.

"Keep it fun," Susan advised, while Jeff added, "Have as much fun as you can," insisting that having Susan by his side “makes it all worthwhile.”

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Jeff and Susan met back in 1975 while the actor was filming Rancho Deluxe. She was 21 years old and working as a waitress at a restaurant in Paradise Valley, Montana. The pair tied the knot on June 5, 1977, and have been together ever since.

While speaking to Sunday TODAY with Willie Geistin 2018, Jeff admitted getting a first date with Susan (née Geston) wasn’t easy.

“I’m doing this scene with Sam Waterston and Harry Dean Stanton and I cannot take my eyes off this gorgeous, I didn’t know what she was, a maid, a waitress, I couldn’t take my eyes off of her,” Bridges recalled of meeting his now-wife for the first time.

“Gorgeous girl with two black eyes and a broken nose. That juxtaposition of that disfigurement and the beauty, it had me!” he added.

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Bridges said that once he “finally got the courage to ask her out” she “said no,” but then he saw her again at the 1975 movie's wrap party.

“We danced and we fell in love and boom that was it,” Bridges told Geist. “I actually have a photograph of that moment, when we met and my wife saying no. Somebody just took a picture of that. I have that.”

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He added of what makes the pair's partnership work, “It's when those big challenges, those upsets come up in your relationship, those are real opportunities to get to know each other more and become more intimate with each other, try to see what makes each other tick."

Jeff and Susan share three daughters together: Isabelle, 42, Jessica, 40, and Haley, 38.

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