“Boy Meets World” stars William Daniels and Bonnie Bartlett played husband and wife on screen and in real life, and the latter recently addressed their previous “open marriage” in an interview published Monday.
99 year-old Daniels played the role of beloved, strict teacher George Feeny in “Boy Meets World,” and Bartlett played Dean Lila Bolander — Mr. Feeny’s wife. They were wholesome characters on the hit 90s family sitcom, but as they prepare to celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary in June, Bartlett explained how they previously had relationships outside their marriage to the Daily Mail.
When asked about their relationship over the years, Bartlett said, “So there have been times, yeah, both of us, on both sides.”
“Our lives just went on, but we never got unhinged … We never got unhinged, but our lives did go in different directions occasionally.”
The actress explained she and Daniels went with the flow, rather than crafting restrictions or regulations within their marriage.
“It was non-spoken. Bill and I never sit down and make rules,” she told the Daily Mail.
“We never sit down and talk about these things. We just don’t. We just live our lives. And if he’s away for a year, he’s away for a year.”
In January 2023, she admitted that their “open marriage” was “very painful” and “didn’t work well” at times in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“[I]t was a time when people were doing that,” she said.
“It was at a time in New York when there was a lot of sex and a lot of people doing all kinds of things, you know — very free.”
UNIVERSAL CITY, CA – OCTOBER 25: Actress Bonnie Bartlett (L) and husband actor William Daniels visit Hallmark’s “Home & Family” at Universal Studios Hollywood on October 25, 2017 in Universal City, California. (Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images)
In 1959, Bartlett had an affair with another actor “that lasted a few months,” according to her 2023 memoir. She went on to say that Daniels became intimately involved with a producer in the 70s that left her “devastated,” at which time she realized she “could no longer tolerate any kind of open marriage.”
Bartlett addressed the fact that their 75-year anniversary is just around the corner, according to the Daily Mail. “It just happened,” she said.
NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 02: Actor William Daniels signs copies of “There I Go Again: How I Came To Be Mr. Feeny, John Adams, Dr. Craig, KITT and Many Others” at Strand Bookstore on March 2, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images )
“You don’t plan for it. You really don’t plan for it,” she told the Daily Mail. (RELATED: Ella Langley Praises Jesus After Sweeping The American Country Music Awards)
“I’m not at all romantic or anything like that. I’m a big believer in today, you know? And then all of a sudden it’s 75 years. It’s kind of amazing, I must say.”
Daniels weighed in to say, “I wouldn’t be with anyone else in my life than this woman sitting next to me.”