Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates have been married for more than 35 years, and the actor attributes their relationship’s success to the considerable distance between them and Hollywood.

In an interview with Business Insider for a story that ran on Thursday, Oct. 24, 77-year-old Kline discussed how he and Cates, who starred in Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Gremlins, managed to maintain their marriage after spending so much time in the entertainment industry.

On the red carpet for the premiere of AppleTV+’s Disclaimer at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, Kline joked with the outlet, “If your marriage lasts more than six months, you’re already in the Guinness Book of World Records if it’s a Hollywood marriage.”

According to the Oscar winner, he and Cates do not have a “Hollywood marriage” because they have resided on Manhattan’s Upper East Side for the whole of their partnership. Kline further quipped that he meant it symbolically, as he and the former actress do not consider themselves celebrities in the classic sense of the term.

“This is why you won’t notice any Botox,” Kline joked. “These are my lips—what’s left of them.”

Furthermore, Cates’ unwavering support for him throughout the years has been a major factor in their long-lasting relationship.

“Unlike me, she carries her head on her shoulders. I frequently rest my head on her shoulders, too.” She’s a great wife, a great mother, a great person, and she keeps me honest,” he said before jokingly adding, “Except in interviews.”

They met at an audition in 1982 and married in a secret New York City wedding seven years later. They went on to have two children, Owen (born in 1991) and Greta (born in 1994), and raised them in the city.

When their children reached elementary school age, Kline announced that Cates had decided to break away from performing and focus on her New York City clothes shop.

“We have agreed to alternate so that we’re never working at the same time,” Kline stated in 1998. “Whenever it has been Phoebe’s turn to work, she has chosen to stay with the children.”

“She loved acting while she was doing it, but she was not driven by it, as I had been,” she said.

Despite her retirement from performing, Cates, Kline, and their children participated in the 2001 film The Anniversary Party, co-starring Jennifer Jason-Leigh.

Kline reportedly joked that he had some reservations about their fit after they first met, telling Entertainment Weekly in 2002 that he thought she was “too happy” for him.

“When I initially met Phoebe, I remember thinking, ‘She’s too glad to be with me,'” the actress stated to EW. “”‘She’s very excited about life… “What will we talk about?”