The bond between Keith Richards and his wife Patti Hansen is as strong as ever as they celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. The lead guitarist and songwriter for The Rolling Stones marked the occasion on Instagram with a photo of them cutting a cake after their wedding.

“For Patricia, Happy 40th Anniversary! I love you. Keith🖤,” Richards captioned the post. The picture showed Richards in a tuxedo and Hansen, the model and actress, in a satin short-sleeve wedding dress, set against an ocean backdrop.

Richards and Hansen have been together since 1979, meeting initially at Studio 54 on Hansen’s 23rd birthday. Their relationship started after Mick Jagger’s then-girlfriend Jerry Hall invited Hansen to Keith’s 36th birthday party.

Throughout their journey, Richards creatively expressed his feelings for Hansen, making mixtapes with drawings and creating collages with photos and notes written in his blood. In his autobiography “Life,” Richards wrote a 1980 journal entry expressing his amazement at finding someone so beautiful and joyful who loved him despite his struggles.

In December 2022, the couple celebrated their 39th wedding anniversary (and Richards’ 79th birthday) by recreating their wedding day kiss, with Hansen wearing the same dress from their 1983 nuptials.

Hansen, reflecting on their enduring relationship in a 2010 interview with Vogue, mentioned that despite the challenges, they share the same morals and background, both coming from working-class families.

The couple shares two children, Theodora Richards and Alexandra Richards. Keith Richards also has three children with model Anita Pallenberg: Marlon Leon Sundeep Richards, Dandelion Angela Richards, and Tara Jo Jo Gunne Richards, who tragically passed away from sudden infant death syndrome two months after birth.