Martin Sheen Has One of Hollywood’s Longest Marriages: Inside His 64-Year Love Story

Long marriages are notoriously few and far between in Hollywood. Sometimes it can feel like any celebrity marriage that lasts into the double digits is an achievement, and if a marriage lasts over half a century? Well, that’s pretty much unheard of! You might be surprised to learn that one of the longest marriages in showbiz belongs to none other than The West Wing star Martin Sheen.

With over 250 credits to his name, including classic films like Badlands, Apocalypse Now and The Departed, Sheen has been a screen staple for decades, and his children, including Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen, have gone on to equally high-profile careers. Martin and his wife, Janet, have been married since 1961, and with nearly 65 years of wedded bliss, they’re surely one of the most stable celebrity couples out there.

Read on for a look at Martin and Janet Sheen’s impressively long-lasting marriage, from how they met to the sweet things he’s said about her.

How Martin and Janet Sheen first met

Martin Sheen met Janet Templeton in New York City in 1960, when he was beginning to pursue his acting career and she was an art student at the New School. They married in 1961, shortly after Janet became pregnant with their first child, The Breakfast Club star Emilio Estevez.

Looking back at his early days, Sheen said, “I was in New York as a youngster starting in 1959, and I was there for 10 years. Jan and I met there, were married there, and all our children were born there. Those 10 years were vital in my life as a husband, father, an activist and an actor.”

During their pre-fame New York years, the Sheens welcomed three more children—actor and producer Ramon Estevez, Two and a Half Men star Charlie Sheen and former actress Renée Estevez—throughout the ’60s and by the early ’70s, the dad of four, who had been racking up TV appearances, was a breakout star thanks to his role as a charismatic murderer in the 1973 film Badlands.

In his memoir, Sheen reflected on starting a family when he was 22 and Janet was just 18, writing, “Even though Janet and I were both so incredibly young, starting a family seemed to make sense, as if this was what two people who loved each other naturally did next.” Clearly, it worked out for them, as their marriage withstood the pressures of fame to set what must be a record in the entertainment industry.

Creative collaborations and staying grounded

Sheen has collaborated creatively with all his children, and he and Janet also worked together, having shared the screen in the 1983 miniseries Kennedy, in which he played John F. Kennedy and she played artist Elaine de Kooning. Janet also produced Beverly Hills Brats (1989) and The Way (2010), both of which starred her famous husband.

Janet doesn’t keep as high a profile as Martin does, and the actor has credited her with keeping him grounded, saying, “She is the most scrupulously honest human being I have ever encountered.” He even went so far as to claim, “I was fortunate enough to marry the scariest woman I’d ever met. She did not know how to lie. It was impossible. For me, the truth was a sometimes thing. For her, it was eternity. She would always call me out, thank God.”

Sheen has also said that as he weathered alcoholism and health challenges, including a heart attack at age 37 while making the 1979 war movie Apocalypse Now and a quadruple heart bypass surgery in 2015, Janet has always been there to keep him steady, explaining, “She had me laughing in the most dire circumstances. She said, ‘Don’t take yourself so seriously.’”

The secret behind Martin Sheen’s long marriage

Today, the Sheens have ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, and have been happily married for 64 years. Emilio Estevez has said that the family stayed so close over the years because Sheen insisted that airfare and accommodations for his wife and children must be provided for any role he booked. As Estevez put it, “My parents believed that, for the family to stay together, the family had to literally stay together”—an approach that paid dividends.

When asked for the secret to his long marriage, Sheen responded humbly, saying, “I haven’t a clue. I really don’t. I’ve never met a person with more integrity in my life, though. I honestly couldn’t keep up with her. It’s taken me a long time to be as even and direct with her as she has been, always, with me. And that’s the relationship. I honestly don’t have a clue who she is because when I get to the point where I’ve caught up with her, she’s gone.”

The foundation of honesty and trust in Martin and Janet Sheen’s relationship is a rare gift, and he’s said that even after all these decades, “Every day is a celebration with this dame.” Hollywood or not, that kind of enthusiasm is a goal for any marriage.