Originally appeared on E! Online
For Dick Van Dyke, his age is truly just a number.
After all, the 98-year-old recently shared how he manages to keep up with his wife of 12 years Arlene Silver amid their 46-year age gap.
“I was fortunate that I didn't grow up,” Van Dyke told Entertainment Tonight in an article published July 16. “We were meant to be.”
In fact, the "Mary Poppins" star — who was previously married to Margie Willett and was in a more than three-decade relationship with Michelle Triola Marvin until her death in 2009 — wasn’t even aware his 52-year-old partner was so much younger than him when they first met at the 2006 SAG Awards.
“I never approached a strange woman in my life,” the "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" actor recalled. “And she walked by and I jumped and I said, ‘Hi, I'm Dick.’ I had no idea she was half my age. Beautiful.”
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From there, Van Dyke hired his soon-to-be wife as his makeup artist. Naturally, the duo hit it off and eventually became friends before accelerating their relationship to a romance a few years later.
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For her part, Silver noted that her friends were supportive of the couple, given they had been in each other’s lives for so long, but she was still “scared” initially.
“I mean, the facts, our age difference,” she noted. “But it's so irrelevant. I think when you see us together, it's like you don't think about it.”
Indeed, the couple managed to ignore any raised eyebrows as they moved in together in 2011, before officially tying the knot a year later. And Silver even touched on her partner’s young soul.
“I've never met anyone like him,” she gushed. “He's always happy and just positive. Always singing, and I would never sing in public. He got me to sing. He got me to sing up on a stage and sang in front of 1500 people for the first time. He's just the most joyful person. He influences everybody else to be more joyful, playful.”
As for how Dick manages his youthful spirit?
"I've often tried to think, ‘what did I do to live this long,’ and I can't figure out,” he admitted. “The only thing is I've always exercised. We still go to the gym three days a week and work out. I think that must be the secret because I don't really watch my diet or anything. Stayed skinny. That helps.”
