Bonnie Bartlett, an American actress, has spoken out about her 72-year marriage to actor William Daniels. During a promotion for her new book, Middle of the Rainbow, the 93-year-old actress revealed to Fox News Digital that she and Daniels struggled as a pair after marrying in 1951.
“I suppose it was an open marriage at first, but it was really difficult. That didn’t turn out so well. And it was a period when people did things like that. It was during a period in New York when there was a lot of s*x and a lot of people doing all sorts of things – extremely free.”
She went on to say that their marriage’s “lack of commitment” was “not healthy.”
“There was a lot of grief associated with any violation, any adulterous incident.”
Daniels and Bartlett married in 1951. On the same night in 1986, the pair created history by winning Emmy Awards for their performances in the drama series St. Elsewhere.
William Daniels and Bonnie Bartlett’s Relationship
William Daniels and Bonnie Bartlett live in a home in southern California at the moment. The Boy Meets World actor confessed to Forbes in May 2022 that he “confidently” asked out Bartlett when the two were studying together at Northwestern University. They’ve been inseparable since. According to Fox News Digital, Bonnie Bartlett said in her new book that she “never felt bad” about their open marriage since she and William “never felt committed to faithfulness.”
Around 1959, the Golden Girls actress was involved in an affair with a “somewhat dull” actor that “lasted a few months.” Her views on open marriage shifted when her husband’s romance with a New York-based producer left her “devastated” in the 1970s. Afterward, Bartlett declared that she could “no longer accept any form of open marriage.”
Bonnie Bartlett and William Daniels struggled “day by day” to mend their damaged relationship.
“It was very unpleasant for both of us. But that was something we had to go through since we had never done so before.”
According to Bartlett, the two were able to repair their friendship as they grew up and matured together.
“It was something we had to go through since we had never gone through it before. I was 18 when we first met. Bill was my first love… We simply had to go through it all, yet we still loved one other deeply and always have.”
She also stated:
“[We] have always supported one another. That’s what is important – being there for the individual and assisting [them] in their relationship, having respect for them and what they’re doing, and being there for them… [You must] be on the opposite side together.”
Bonnie Bartlett and William Daniels have two kids named Michael and Robert. The former was born in 1964 and works in Los Angeles as an assistant director and stage manager. Robert, born in 1966, works as a computer graphics designer in New York.
