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Ted Danson’s budding relationship with Mary Steenburgen took a memorable turn during a significant occasion at the White House.
The 78-year-old actor reminisced about a pivotal conversation with then-President Bill Clinton, who interrogated Danson about his “intentions” with Steenburgen, a close confidante of the Clintons.
“Soon after we started dating, she introduced me to her dear friends at the White House,” Danson recounted at a History Talks event, where he shared the stage with Bill and Hillary Clinton, as reported by Variety. “President Clinton pulled me aside, flanked by three Secret Service agents, and asked about my intentions towards Mary.”
The “Cheers” actor humorously asked, “Mr. President, do you think that was fair?”
Clinton replied with a grin, “No, but it was effective. I didn’t feel the need to be fair. In hindsight, you turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to her.”
The couple met in 1993 while on the set of the movie “Pontiac Moon” and quickly became one of Hollywood’s most-loved couples. They got married in October 1995 in a ceremony on Martha’s Vineyard.
When speaking about their relationship to People in February 2021, Danson explained he knew he had to propose to her because he “couldn’t imagine not being with her at all times.”
“Not to sound corny, but I would sign up for 100 more lifetimes,” Steenburgen told the outlet. “He makes me a better person. He’s a truly beautiful human being. A great big soul. I love how he sees the world and how he cares about people, and he’s deeply hilarious, which is super, super sexy to me, and he smells really nice.”
After years of leading successful careers, Danson and Steenburgen got the opportunity to work together on Netflix’s “Man on the Inside.” Steenburgen joined the cast for season 2 of the comedy as the love interest for Danson’s character.
Steenburgen told People in November 2025 when she found out she had landed the role, “there was a lot of screaming and jumping up and down … because we were so excited to work together.”
“We’re both actors,” Danson told the outlet. “We were trained the same way. We had some really good material to work with. We’d get up every morning giggling about what we get to do.”
Fox News Digital’s Lori Bashian contributed to this report.