When we think about Hollywood marriages, we don’t often have the most positive view. In fact, many people would say that Hollywood marriages struggle more than marriages anywhere else!

Although it is true that a celebrity marriages going to have some difficulties, that doesn’t mean that they can’t work out well. A good example of this is Ron Howard, and he is opening up as to how he has been married for close to five decades.

Ron Howard was born on March 1, 1954. When he was 18 months old, he appeared in his first film and went on to appear in The Andy Griffith Show, and eventually, Happy Days.

For years and the majority of his young life, Ron Howard spent his time in front of a camera. He eventually went behind the camera and has been responsible for some of the greatest movies as a director as well.

Something that isn’t often talked about with Ron Howard is how he met his wife in 1970. He hadn’t won a Golden Globe, although he was playing on Happy Days, and he had a high school sweetheart.

That high school romance that he had with Cheryl Alley eventually blossomed and they got married in 1975. In fact, he said that after he met her, there was never anybody else. He called her: “unbelievably supportive and always has been. Our compatibility has endured through all kinds of experiences.”

After being married for five decades, Ron Howard went on Instagram to share a picture of his first date with Cheryl. He said: “Nov 1 1970 Cheryl & I went on our 1st date.

“We went to see a re-release of Stanley Kramer’s It’s a Mad Mad Mad World and then got some pizza at now defunct Barnone’s in Toluca Lake. Quite a start, right?”

He also shared the plans that they had for that day, “We’ll be driving in the same ‘70 VW Bug I picked Cheryl up in 5 decades ago. It runs great. So do we.”

Cheryl has also been in a number of his projects and played herself on the comedy series, Arrested Development. That show was narrated and produced by Ron Howard.

Ron refers to Cheryl as being his good luck charm and says that is why she is in almost every film he makes.

He said: “At a certain point, I became very superstitious about making sure that she appears, that she’s at least identifiable in one frame. They don’t have to be big cameos, but she’s gotta be in there.”

They have four children and six grandchildren.

One of the things that they say really makes a difference in their sticking together is communication. They consider it to be the secret to their enduring love.

Ron Howard said: “People say, ‘How’d you do it?’ There’s no technique. There’s no tactic, other than communication is really important. You have to learn to communicate and have difficult conversations in constructive ways. Beyond that, there’s an element of luck because people either grow together or they don’t and I don’t think you can force that.”