Yahoo Lifestyle Dick Van Dyke's Marriage History, Including His 46-Year Age Gap With Wife Arlene Silver
Dick Van Dyke, the beloved film, TV and stage actor, has been married twice in his life: first to Margie Willett, the mother of his four children, and second to Arlene Silver, a makeup artist he met backstage at an awards show in 2006.
Despite their 46-year age difference, Van Dyke and Silver have been together for nearly 20 years. In 2012, Van Dyke told RumorFix of Silver, "I was in the green room and she passed through and I was bowled over by her beauty."
"The last couple of years we kind of fell in love," he explained. "She keeps up with me."
Van Dyke also said that the two decided to get married at the spur of the moment. Clearly, they made the right choice! Here is everything to know about Dick Van Dyke's wife and relationship history.
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Who is Dick Van Dyke married to today?
Van Dyke is married to Arlene Silver. The pair met in 2006, backstage at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Van Dyke later told Entertainment Tonight that when he met Silver he went out on a limb in a way that he doesn't usually.
"I never approached a strange woman in my life. And she walked by and I jumped and I said, ‘Hi, I’m Dick.’ I had no idea she was half my age. Beautiful," he explained.
At the time, Van Dyke was still in a relationship with his longtime partner of more than 30 years, Michelle Triola. After she died from lung cancer in 2009, Arlene would "come by after work and bring me food," he told PEOPLE. "She was such a support, I fell in love."
They moved in together in 2011 and married the following year.
Related: Dick Van Dyke Melts Hearts While Gushing Over 'Meant to Be' Wife Arlene
What does Arlene Silver do for a living?
Silver is a makeup artist.
How did Dick Van Dyke and his wife Arlene Silver meet?
Van Dyke and Silver met at the SAG Awards in 2006. Silver told The Huffington Post in 2013, "I remember seeing Dick at the catering table [at the SAG Awards] with his bow tie and his big smile. Right when I sat down, he was sitting next to me… I knew who he was, but I wasn’t sure why I knew who he was. I was not familiar with all his work."
What is the age gap between Dick Van Dyke and Arlene Silver?
Van Dyke and Silver have a 46-year age gap. They were 86 (him) and 40 (her) when they married.
“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,” Silver told The Huffington Post. “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.”
Related: Arlene Silver on 46-Year Age Gap with Husband Dick Van Dyke: 'Love Is Ageless'
Who was Dick Van Dyke's first wife?
Van Dyke married Margie Willett on Feb. 12, 1948, and they had four children together: Christian, Barry, Stacy and Carrie Beth.
In a 2016 interview with The Guardian Van Dyke told the unlikely story of their marriage. "When I was 20, I began dating a local girl I had known for years growing up in Danville, Illinois—Margie Willett," he said. "We were too broke to get married, but a radio producer offered to pick up the tab and send us on honeymoon if we got hitched on his show. So in 1948 we exchanged our vows in front of a minister and two radio microphones while 15 million people listened!"
In his 2016 memoir-slash-advice book, Keep Moving, Van Dyke shared the story of how they both wound up in rehab—him for drinking, her for a pill addiction. "We were quite a pair—a drunk and an addict. I fell off the wagon several times, while Margie preferred the solitude of our ranch in the desert," he wrote (via Daily Mail).
By 1975, he found himself confiding in his agent’s secretary, Michelle Triola. "She was easy to talk to, she understood me ... I was drawn into a relationship," he wrote. "I was involved with a woman other than my wife. It was unbelievable. I was writhing in guilt. By 1976 I had to do something. I needed to be honest."
He and Margie agreed to live their separate lives until making their split "permanent" in 1981. (They officially divorced in 1984.)
In 2007, Willet was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
"I was deeply affected," Van Dyke wrote. "Even though we were long divorced, with her death I lost a part of myself."
Who was Dick Van Dyke's longtime partner Michelle Triola?
Michelle Triola was secretary to Van Dyke's agent when she and the actor struck up a relationship in 1975. At the time, Van Dyke was still married to Margie Willett.
The pair spent more than 30 years together, remaining a couple until her death due to lung cancer in 2009. "She spent her last week in a coma," Van Dyke recalled in his book Keep Moving. "Her doctor said she could still hear, so I sang and talked to her until the hospice nurses told me she was gone."
Does Dick Van Dyke have kids with his wife?
Dick Van Dyke and Arlene Silver do not have children together. However, he shared four children with first wife Margie Willett.
How many times was Dick Van Dyke married?
Dick Van Dyke has been married two times.
