- Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates are a rare example of a long-lasting celebrity marriage.
- The two have been married since 1989.
- Kline credits Cates — and the two of them not living in Hollywood — with their success.
Kevin Kline’s secret to a successful Hollywood marriage? Simply don’t have a Hollywood marriage.
The 77-year-old actor and star of Apple TV+’s “Disclaimer,” a series created by Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón and costarring Cate Blanchett, has been married to former actor Phoebe Cates, 61, for over 35 years.
In a famously fickle industry that’s often fixated on appearances, maintaining a happy marriage— and some semblance of privacy — can be nearly impossible.
“If your marriage lasts more than six months, you’re already in the Guinness Book of World Records, if you’re a Hollywood marriage,” Kline joked while speaking to Business Insider on the red carpet for the premiere of “Disclaimer” at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
Kline said he doesn’t classify his relationship with Cates as a “Hollywood marriage” — both literally, in the sense that they’ve never lived in Hollywood (they’ve spent most of their marriage living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where they raised their family), and figuratively, in the sense that they’re both pretty low-key, non-celebrity types despite being well-known actors.
“That’s why you’ll see no Botox. These are my lips, what’s left of them,” Kline joked, gesturing to his face.
Kline said he attributes their happy marriage to Cates herself. “She’s got her head on her shoulders, unlike me. I usually have my head on her shoulders, too,” he told BI. “She’s a great wife, a great mother, great person, and she keeps me honest.”
“Except for in interviews,” Kline added.
Kline met Cates during auditions for the 1983 film “The Big Chill,” soon after he’d made the leap from stage to screen with his film debut in “Sophie’s Choice.” The two began dating in 1985, and married in 1989 — the same year Kline won an Oscar for “A Fish Called Wanda.”
Cates, for her part, became famous for her roles in iconic 1980s comedies like “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and “Gremlins.” She retired from film acting in the 1990s (save an appearance in “The Anniversary Party,” a 2001 film written and directed by her best friend and former “Fast Times” costar Jennifer Jason Leigh) and now runs Blue Tree, an Upper East Side boutique she opened in 2005.
Cates and Kline share two children: son Owen, born in 1991, and daughter Greta, born in 1994.
