Michael Caine, 90, credits his longevity to 'young wife' Shakira Baksh
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM: One of Hollywood's longest-running careers belongs to Michael Caine, but his 50-year marriage with Shakira Caine (nee Baksh) is probably even more remarkable.
Sir Caine revealed in an interview with Daily Mail on Sunday's 'You Magazine,' "younger wives, no snacking and wearing trainers all the time – and you have to be careful not to fall down," are his suggestions for extending life.
The Oscar-winning actor and Baksh first crossed paths in the 1970s, and as per the actor, it was love at first sight.
The couple got married in 1973 and had their daughter the same year. He was 40 while she was 26. They are now proud grandparents and have been going strong ever since.
Caine further claimed that having three grandchildren and his daughter Natasha keep him young.
"You want to live for ever to see what they do with their lives," he continued.
The couple is incredibly supportive of one another's jobs in addition to their family life, and Baksh has accompanied the 'Batman' actor to several of his premieres.
However, those days could be over for Caine, who told The Telegraph that his upcoming movie 'The Great Escaper', which debuts in October 2023, will probably be his last acting role before he retires, per People.
Shakira Baksh was Miss Guyana
Baksh walked down the Miss World platform at the Lyceum Ballroom in London in 1967 with a baby face and bright cheeks.
According to what Baksh told People in 1976, she dropped out of school when she was 16 and started working as a secretary at a US Information Service office in Guyana.
Her eardrum blew and her cheek was damaged in the office bombing. She entered a beauty contest after the incident in an effort to get out of Guyana. "My main concern was just to get out," she admitted.
Baksh went on to win the Miss Guyana title and later competed in the Miss World contest in London, where she ended as the third runner-up. She eventually relocated to England.
Baksh made her acting debut in 1969's 'Carry on Again Doctor'. She co-starred with her husband Caine, Saeed Jaffrey, Sean Connery, and Christopher Plummer in 'The Man Who Would Be King' in 1975 as Roxanne, per People.
Michael Caine obtained Shakira's phone number from advertising firm
The English actor was inspired to meet Baksh after watching her in a Maxwell House coffee commercial from the 1970s. They went on a date set up by a friend, and have been together ever since.
In 1976, Caine told People, "She was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen."
Moreover, the Oscar-winning actor admitted to the Radio Times in 2018, "I fell in love with her in about eight minutes. It took her two hours to fall in love with me."
Michael and Shakira got married in the Candlelight Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas on January 8, 1973. They share a daughter together, Natasha Caine, also born in 1973.
In the 1976 interview, Baksh stated, "He was everything I didn't expect. I had just seen him in Get Carter and he seemed so aggressive and ruthless. Instead, I found him charming and very gentle, someone whom I'd like to spend part of my life with," referring to her husband of 50 years.
Shakira accompanies Michael Caine on work tours
Speaking to The Mirror, Sir Caine acknowledged that relationships might suffer when they are constantly on the go.
"If you go away on location for three months and your wife stays at home, you've made a whole new load of friends and she's made a whole new load of friends and you get home and you're kind of strangers," the man said.
However, this isn't the scenario for the Caine couple.
"My wife comes with me on all the movies, but she is not an appendage to a film star or anything like that," he remarked.
"She is the other half of me. Also, we're still very much in love with each other. We always have been, we always will be."
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Shakira and Michael posed for PEOPLE cover in 1976
Caine and Baksh appeared on the cover of People in 1976. The pair talked openly about how they met, having dinner parties in their lavishly decorated house, and their middle-class upbringings in their cover story.
Michael wrote that Shakira saved his life in his 2018 book, 'Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: And Other Lessons in Life.'
Caine wrote: "I was never bombed on set, but I thought that a small vodka for breakfast was nothing to worry about, and in the early 1970s I was drinking two bottles of the stuff a day."
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"By an immense stroke of good fortune, Shakira arrived in my life just in time. The empty feeling vanished and she got on my case. Then, to top it all, she got pregnant and I was given a second go at fatherhood, and soon I got myself straightened out," Caine added.