Bonnie Bartlett Daniels says she and husband William Daniels “never felt committed to fidelity” early in their now 72-year marriage.
The 93-year-old has opened up about the ups and downs of her relationship with the 95-year-old Boy Meets World actor while promoting her new memoir, Middle of the Rainbow.
“I think it was a little bit of an open marriage at first, but it was very painful,” Bartlett Daniels told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. “That didn’t work well.”
“And it was a time when people did that,” she continued. “It was a time in New York when there was a lot of sex and a lot of people were doing all kinds of things, you know — very freely.”
The couple married in 1951. NBCUniversal via Getty Images
The “St. Elsewhere” star, who married Daniels in 1951, went on to reveal that she “had an affair that lasted a few months” with an actor who was “a bit boring” sometime around 1959.
“I’ve never felt guilty because I’ve never felt committed to allegiance, and neither has Bill,” she wrote.
However, her husband’s affair with a producer in the ’70s left her “devastated” and completely changed the dynamic of their marriage.
The couple’s complex relationship took a turn in the ’70s. NBC Universal via Getty Images
It was then that the actress learned that she “could no longer tolerate any kind of open marriage” and the two “moved forward day by day” to mend their broken relationship.
“It was very painful for both of us,” she told the outlet. “But it was something we had to go through because we never went through it.”
She continued, “I was 18 when we got together. Bill was my first boyfriend … We just had to go through it all and yet we loved each other very much and have always loved each other.”
The Boy Meets World star and actress have been married for 72 years. Disney General Entertainment Con
“[We] were always there for each other. That’s what matters – if you are there for the person and help [them] together in a relationship [have] Respect for them and what they do and being there for them… [You have to] be together on the other side.”