Friends for lovers! Jason Bateman and his wife, Amanda Ankaknew each other for a decade before they started dating – and they say their long friendship is one of the reasons their romance has lasted.
“Our marriage has defied the odds and it works really well,” he said Arrested Development alum to Red book in January 2013. “We really know our boundaries. We know how to bug each other and not bug each other. If we don’t get along, we’re trash. With girlfriends, you fight, you push them out. With us, we learn to fight quickly or not. I wanted to marry a friend. Friends last longer.”
The duo met in the mid-1980s when they were just 18, but didn’t date for another 10 years. Despite being one of Hollywood’s longest-running couples, they still have their ups and downs.
Bateman, who started out as a child star, has opened up about the fact that he struggled with alcohol and drug abuse in his youth. “It’s like that Risky business for 10 years,” he said Details in July 2009. “My parents are out of town, they left me money, a car, and a house, and I don’t know when they will come home. I have worked hard until I was 20 years old, I really want to play. And I did very well.
At Ozark the actor had not completely calmed down when he married Anka in July 2001, and at one point, his behavior almost cost him his marriage. After coming home one night, her husband gave her an ultimatum. While spending Christmas alone because Anka had planned a trip without anyone, he decided to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
“Do you want to continue growing up in your 20s, or do you want to step up and graduate into adulthood?” said Detailsremembering what he asked himself at the time.
The duo eventually got over that rough patch, welcoming daughters Francesca and Maple in 2006 and 2012, respectively.
After racking up wins at the Golden Globes, Emmys and Screen Actors Guild Awards over the years, Bateman has no regrets about leaving the party day of the month.
“There are certain things you do at a certain age in life that are relevant to today’s times, and right now it’s a good fit for me as a father and a husband and a career man,” he said. Daily Telegraph in October 2014. “Those are the three things I want.”
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Keep scrolling to see Bateman and Anka’s full relationship timeline: