Dick Van Dyke, 96, feared his 50-year-old wife would be regarded as 'gold digger'
Last month, Dick Van Dyke and Arlene Silver celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary and recently the actor revealed that he was concerned about the public opinion of marrying a much younger woman than him. Van Dyke married the 40-year-old Silver in late February 2012, when he was 86 years old.
During a new interview with Closer Weekly, the actor, now 96, reminisced about his first encounter with the make-up artist, now 50, at the 2007 SAG Awards and revealed he was anxious about his wife being viewed as a 'money digger.' Van Dyke was married to actress Michelle Triola Marvin for more than 30 years until her death in 2009. His first marriage was to Margie Willett from 1948 to 1984, according to Fox News.
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In this new interview, Van Dyke, who has been married to Silver for ten years now, credits her with his happiness and vigor. The actor stated, "We share an attitude. She can go with the flow. She loves to sing and dance, which we do almost every day. She’s just delightful." Meanwhile, his wife, Silver exclaimed to her husband, “he is the most perfect human being. I’ve never met anyone so happy, so genuine, so amazing. He’s just like a happy pill.” Despite this, Van Dyke was concerned about their 46-year age difference, saying, "I thought there would be an outcry about a gold digger marrying an old man, but no one ever took that attitude."
Van Dyke was set to deliver the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' to his Mary Poppins co-star Julie Andrews at the 2007 SAG Awards, where Silver was working. Silver recalled, “he said, ‘Hi, I’m Dick.’ The first thing I asked him was, ‘Weren’t you in Mary Poppins?’” “We got along immediately as friends, so it didn’t feel like he was so much older than me,” she added. On Arlene's YouTube site, they recently posted their ‘Everybody Loves a Lover’ music video. Dick explains, "I love to harmonize, so that keeps me going. It’s kind of my retirement amusement. I don’t play golf. I have more fun singing and dancing." He's set to star alongside Louis Gossett Jr., John Amos, and Barry Corbin in the upcoming film ‘Capture the Flag.’