They were a passionate married pair on screen, one of the most recognized in television history, as Olivia and John Walton in the iconic CBS sitcom “The Waltons.”

They were always surrounded by children, and each episode emphasized the value of family and love — yet their lives off screen were far from the ideal living presented on the show.

“The Waltons” was a popular family show that aired for nine seasons between 1972 and 1981.

Olivia and John Walton, played by Michael Learned and Ralph Waite, were a couple fighting through the Great Depression with seven children and grandparents all living together in Walton’s Mountain, a fictitious mountain town.

When they were cast for the program, Learned and Waite had a lot in common. They both hailed from wealthy homes, and this was their first major break in show business.

Learned was born in Washington, D.C., but spent much of her youth in Connecticut on a farm with her five younger sisters.

She went to Austria when she was 11 years old and attended Arts Educational School, Tring, now Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in Tring, Hertfordshire, England, where she developed her passion for acting.

But it wasn’t until she was 33 years old that she earned the part that would make her famous, alongside her onscreen spouse Waite, a guy 11 years her older who was also the eldest child of a large family raised in White Plains, New York.

Waite joined the Marines after graduating from high school, went to college, and briefly worked as a social worker before receiving a master’s degree from Yale University and becoming an ordained Presbyterian preacher.

He opted to pursue an acting career, and after a number of film and television roles, he earned the renowned role of John Walton in his mid-40s.

The two hit it off right away, and their onscreen chemistry made them an instant fan favorite. For her work as Olivia Walton, Learned received three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.

However, despite portraying the picture-perfect family onscreen, Learned’s personal life was a mess. Her first marriage was to Canadian-American actor Peter Donat, with whom she had three boys when she was 17 years old. They divorced 16 years later, and it took her two more marriages before she met a partner with whom she could genuinely be happy.

In 1974, she married Glenn Chadwick for three years, then in 1979, she married actor-screenwriter William Parker.

Learned acknowledged to being a victim of domestic abuse by a long-term spouse she refused to name in a 2017 interview. According to Closer Magazine, after being choked by her spouse, she realized she could no longer turn “the other cheek” and had to flee.

This was not her only challenge in life; following her divorce from her first husband, she became an alcoholic, which Waite assisted her in overcoming.

“I was heavily intoxicated when the show began, and Ralph saved my life.” “I mean it,” she said.

She described how they frequently went out for lunch during their breaks, returning to the set tipsy. Waite eventually “straightened himself out,” asking her to do the same since she was drinking too much, so she went to ex-husband Donat’s lonely cottage on the California coast to sober up and hasn’t drunk since.

Waite, who married three times and admitted that the impact of his divorces was so tremendous that he never allowed himself to consider marriage again, likewise experienced his fair share of heartbreak.

Their most recent weddings brought them happiness: Learne to lawyer John Doherty, 12 years her junior, and Waite to Kerry Shear, 20 years his junior.

But, five years after Waite died, Learned finally revealed what admirers had thought all along: she and Waite were madly in love.

Despite their profound love for one other, the actors never did anything about it due to their professional commitment to the program.

According to Learned, they chose not to pursue the affair because it may derail the successful show and “get messy.” Instead, Learned persisted on their tight relationship, which lasted until Waite’s death in 2014 at the age of 85.

“We had a deep love for each other that we would have ruined if we had taken that extra step, and we didn’t,” Learned said.

“Never happened. We considered it, but decided against it. And I believe it is why we became spiritual husband and wife, and I miss him tremendously. His wife is a close buddy. But what Ralph and I shared was something that was captured on film.

Their chemistry is clear to see onscreen but to not take their feelings any further shows their dedication to a show that has delighted millions over the years and is still shown on TV today.

I’m pleased these two eventually found love.

Please share with all The Waltons‘ fans you know.