William Daniels is best known for his role as Mr. Feeny in the beloved ’90s sitcom Boy Meets World.
His wife of 72 years, Bonnie Barlett, may be less known to modern audiences due to the fact that her career took off earlier, but she was no less successful in her heyday.
Bartlett got him started Little House on the Prairie before moving on to medical dramas Stwhich Daniels played his wife.
For years, Bartlett and Daniels have been Hollywood’s most admired acting couple.
The thespian lovebirds even won the Emmys on the same night in 1986, making them only the second couple to pull off such an impressive feat.
But according to Bartlett’s new memoir, the marriage wasn’t always as healthy as it seemed.
And I mean, Mr. Feeny hit half of Manhattan in the 50s.
While promoting her new memoir, Middle of the RainbowBartlett revealed that in her first year with Daniels, he insisted on an open marriage.
“I thought it was an open marriage in the beginning, but it hurt a lot,” she told Fox News Digital while promoting her book.
“That doesn’t work very well. And that’s when people do it,” Bonnie explained.
“It was a time in New York when there was a lot of sex and a lot of people doing all kinds of things, you know – it was very free.”
Bartlett then says that he and Daniels may have gotten caught up in the spirit of free love… the ’50s (???) finally decided that the swinger life wasn’t for them.
The two had affairs, but they left the lifestyle in the 1970s.
“But I don’t know if there is a little lack of commitment, and it’s not good,” Bonnie continued.
“So there’s a lot of pain associated with any transgression, with extramarital matters.”
Needless to say, Feeny doesn’t seem like the wise old educator we know and love in this story.
But it is important to focus on the healthy aspects of this account:
For one thing, Daniels and Bartlett are both in the nineties, and not only did he just write a book that details the type of life, he has tirelessly made the rounds of the media to promote it.
Obviously, that’s awesome.
And hey, it’s kind of nice to think that before Corey Matthews was your quiet, cardigan-wearing neighbor, Mr. Feeny was one of the most legendary players of the Eisenhower era.
It sounds like the boy did not just meet the world, he took it back to the apartment, made it Martini and put some Sinatra!