Gerald McRaney Reveals the Secret to 36-Year Marriage to Delta Burke: 'Most Drop-Dead Beautiful Woman I’d Ever Seen' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Gerald McRaney and Delta Burke at the 2017 Creative Arts Emmy Awards.Photo:Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

Gerald McRaney, 77, is a man madly in love — nearly four decades after he first met and fell for his wife, actressDelta Burke,68.

“Marrying Delta, that’s the secret,” theParadiseactor tells PEOPLE, of why they’ve stayed together for so long. “That’s it. She’s the one for keeping it together. Honestly, I think one of the biggest components to a happy marriage is that you’ve got to marry the right person.”

“I think a lot of it was just both of us being southern,” the Mississippi-native says of what initially drew him to Burke, who is from Florida. “We had common ground there.”

“Also, I thought she was the most drop-dead beautiful woman I’d ever seen,” he adds.

Delta Burke and Gerald McRaney at the 24th Annual Publicists Guild of America Awards.Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

He says his infatuation with Burke later became a real romance, but not until they were done filming together. “I actually asked her out while we were doing the show, but I waited untilafterthe show was over to have the date,” he says. “So we had a date and we had a second date, at which point I proposed to her. And she accepted. And basically, we’ve been together every day for 38 years.”

He says no one was concerned they were moving too quickly.

“We just knew,” he says.

“The other thing is, and Delta and I have talked about this, there’s something about being with the right person that makes you know that when you have a disagreement, that it is worth fighting for,” he says of their other marriage secret. “You may fight with the person, but you fight to keep the relationship going more than you fight with the person. That’s the important thing. There is some work involved, but most of it has been an absolute joy.”

Gerald McRaney and Delta Burke attend the 2020 Hollywood Show on February 1, 2020 in Burbank, California.Albert L. Ortega/Getty

Albert L. Ortega/Getty

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He adds with a laugh,  “I think both of us realize that we would be pretty well useless without the other.”

In 2024, Burke opened up about her feelings for McRaney on theGlamorous Trashpodcast.

“No one had ever loved me completely for me, not even my mother or grandmother. They would judge what I looked like. He never did," she told the podcast host Chelsea Devantez of falling for McRaney.

To read more about Gerald McRaney, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE on stands now.She says his love helped get her through some of her darkest days, and gave her the strength to finallyquitDesigning Womenin 1991.

“I loved my life truly for the first time. And I loved him desperately," she shared of theThis Is Usactor, adding, “I knew that I was safe and loved.”

source: people.com