Billy Crystal says sharing one ‘common goal’ led to 54-year marriage to ‘extraordinary’ wife
Billy Crystal revealed the secrets behind his decades-long marriage to wife Janice.
The 76-year-old actor and the 75-year-old producer, who share daughters Jennifer, 51, and Lindsay, 46, have been married 54 years after meeting as teenagers.
Crystal, who executive produced and starred in the new Apple+ series “Before,” recently sat down for an interview with his co-star Jacobi Jupe. During the interview with Fox News Digital, Crystal opened up about the key qualities and shared goals that have kept his marriage going strong over the years.
“Humor and trust and constantly be interested in what each of us are doing and respecting our separate lives and who we are,” the “When Harry Met Sally” star said.
“But our common goal was always just to raise a beautiful family, which we have and continue to do,” he added. “And just respect each other. And she’s an extraordinary person.”
“I’m lucky,” he added. “I was 18. She was 17. And here we still are.”
Crystal and Janice met in 1966 while the comedian was working at a summer camp in Long Beach, New York, after his freshman year at Marshall University in West Virginia.
“This girl walks by … and I said, ‘I’m gonna marry her.’ And I did, four years later,” Crystal said on the “WTF with Marc Maron” podcast, via People magazine.
The six-time Emmy Award winner transferred to Nassau Community College on Long Island as a sophomore since he wanted to live closer to Janice.
“I loved her so much right away,” Crystal said. “You know, I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a long-distance relationship — they don’t work out.”
The pair tied the knot in June 1970 and later welcomed Jennifer and Lindsay.
During a recent interview with People magazine, Crystal reflected on how his life changed after becoming a parent.
“Oh, children change everything,” he said. “When I first became a dad back in [1973], Janice was working, and I was starting my career as a stand-up at night. So, during the day, I was ‘Mr. Mom’ and that changed my life totally.
“The responsibility as a 25-year-old with an infant that can’t get through the day without you,” Crystal continued. “When you learn that you can love something much more than yourself, it was the greatest experience in my life as a person.
“That’s been my total effort of my life is to leave the world with two amazing daughters — grown women now, mothers of their own,” he explained. “And that they then teach their children, our four grandchildren, what it means the responsibility in our world, which is changing constantly.”
After launching his career as a stand-up comic, Crystal went on to star in the TV sitcom “Soap” during the show’s four-season run from 1977 to 1981. He landed his first film role in Joan Rivers’ 1978 comedy “Rabbit Test.”
After Crystal appeared in Rob Reiner’s 1984 rockumentary “This is Spinal Tap,” the director later cast him as a supporting character in the 1987 fantasy romantic comedy “The Princess Bride.”
Crystal took on lead roles in 1986’s “Running Scared” and 1987’s “Throw Momma From the Train.” However, the actor rocketed to stardom when Reiner cast him in the 1989 hit romantic comedy “When Harry Met Sally.”
Throughout his career, Crystal has become known for his starring roles in comedic films and TV shows. However, the actor’s latest series, “Before,” is a marked departure from most of his previous projects.
According to a plot synopsis for the show, the series follows Eli (Crystal), a child psychiatrist who, after recently losing his wife, Lynn (Judith Light), encounters a troubled young boy, Noah (Jupe), who seems to have a haunting connection to Eli’s past.
“As Eli attempts to help Noah, their mysterious bond deepens, sparking haunting memories and unearthing unsettling secrets about the past.”
While speaking with Fox News Digital, Crystal weighed in on the challenges he faced while tackling the role.
“The whole thing is a challenge,” the nine-time Academy Awards host said. “Every second of this character is a challenge. I’ve never played a character who’s under so much stress and fearful and grief-stricken and filled with his own terrors and his pursuit of — as a sort of detective trying to solve the mystery that Jacobi’s character presents to him.
“It’s thrilling to be able to get a chance to do that.”
During his interview with Fox News Digital, Crystal also recalled the one role he regretted turning down. The actor rejected voicing the astronaut action figure Buzz Lightyear in the 1995 Pixar animated movie “Toy Story.” Directed by John Lasseter, “Toy Story” became a mega-hit and spawned a blockbuster movie franchise.
“It wasn’t a creative thing at all,” Crystal explained of passing on the role. “It was — it’s sort of a business thing at the time when it was presented that didn’t feel right.
“I didn’t know it was the first of those kind of animated films that Pixar was doing. I’d seen the short, and I loved it. And I met with John, and somehow it didn’t work. And I went, ‘Oh, damn.’”
However, Crystal remembered that he was fully on board when Lasseter later approached him about starring in another animated Pixar feature.
“Two years later, he calls me up, and he says, ‘Listen, I’ve got something.’ And I said, ‘Whatever it is, yes,’” Crystal recalled.
“And he said, ‘No, really, I want to talk to you. I have something I want to give you, and I want you to see what we’re thinking about,’” he continued. “I said, ‘Well, let’s, you know, when do you want to meet? And he goes, ‘I’m in the lobby of your building. I’ll be right up.’ And then it was Mike Wazowski. So it had a happy ending.”
Crystal voiced the role of the goofy monster Mike Wazowski in the 2001 animated movie “Monsters, Inc,” which raked in $577 million at the worldwide box office and also led to a franchise.
The actor reprised his role in the short films “Mike’s New Car” and “Party Central,” as well as the 2013 feature sequel “Monsters University.”
Crystal’s “Before” co-star Jupe is a child actor who recently appeared opposite Jude Law in the Disney+ live-action movie “Peter Pan and Wendy.” Jupe has also had roles in the Epix series “Brittania” and the PBS miniseries “Tom Jones.”
While speaking with Fox News Digital, Jupe shared his thoughts on what he learned from working with Crystal.
“Billy has taught me many things with my time working with him,” Jupe said. “I would honestly think that one of those things would probably be always try to — we always [are] trying to have fun in between takes and stressful scenes.”
Jupe, 11, explained that it was “good” to create a fun atmosphere on set so the cast and crew weren’t “always so kind of down.”
Jupe also reflected on the message he hopes audiences take away from watching “Before.”
“I want them to take away that there is a possibility of maybe life before life,” he said. “Sometimes you’ve got to try to keep on trying. Just go for it. You’ve got something. Just keep doing it. Keep going for it. Because anything’s possible.”
“Before” will premiere on Apple TV+ Oct. 25.
