Jeff Bridges Shares the Secret to Healthy 50 Years of Marriage to Susan Geston

Jeff Bridges (R) and Susan Geston arrive at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Feb. 26, 2017. Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

While the secret to keeping a healthy relationship is not always an easy feat, actor Jeff Bridges and his wife Susan Geston continue to withstand the test of time in Hollywood after almost 50 years of marriage.

Sitting down with Dax Shepard on his “Armchair Expert” podcast on Oct. 14, “The Big Lebowski” star said while it was “love at first sight” that continues to grow with his wife, the key to a lasting marriage takes a lot of work.

“The mystery is still there, after 50 years, of who exactly is this person? As we talk about it, and she comes to my mind, it’s really remarkable how she has fulfilled my dreams, man,” he said.

Jeff Bridges and Susan Geston attend The Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 6, 2017. Robin Marchant/Getty Images for Twentieth Century Fox

“They don’t tell you, if you hang in [there], it can grow into incredible depths of intimacy and love, and certainly you go through those times where you’re tested, and then you’ve got a choice: you can move on, ‘I’m getting a divorce,’ or you can really use it as a takeoff spot.”

The 74-year-old met Geston back in 1975 when she was working as a waitress and he was filming “Rancho Deluxe.” The couple tied the knot just two years later and had three daughters together.

When going through tough times, Bridges said the couple uses what he calls a “primal battle” approach, explaining the essence of it as: “You don’t get it, you don’t understand what it’s like to be me dealing with you.’”

“We sit close and look in each other’s eyes, and one person gives you their perspective and the other guy just receives it—don’t try to take notes about your rebuttal—we do that back-and-forth and it seems to itch it a little bit,” he explained.

Actor Jeff Bridges and wife Susan Geston arrive at the 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Jan. 23, 2010. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

The philosophy allows them both to understand each other through a communicative and loving nature.

“But the basic thing that comes out of it for me is that, ‘You’re so right—I don’t get it, and you don’t get it, we don’t get it, and isn’t that wonderful? And here we are and what are we going to do?’” he said. “We have to love.”

“We have to hold these opposites. And then you make that choice and it grows, and you learn from all those missteps.”

Opening up about his marriage in the past, Bridges noted that he and his wife are different in some ways but instead of allowing that to create a wedge in their relationship, the two embrace it.

“We are quite different as people, and we celebrate that rather than making it drive us apart. I respect her wisdom, and I’m sure the girls do too,” he told People magazine in 2020. “I’ve really been blessed.”

Best known for his roles in “The Big Lebowski,” “Hell or High Water,” “Tron,” and 2009’s “Crazy Heart,” Bridges has been nominated for more than 100 awards and has made over 70 films throughout his career.

The Academy award-winner is keeping busy since entering remission for Lymphoma and is set to reprise the role of Dan Chase in season 2 of “The Old Man” this month.

He received his cancer diagnosis back in 2020 before undergoing chemotherapy treatment the following year.

Overall, Bridges is feeling better and has come a long way since nearly losing his life after contracting COVID-19 simultaneously during his cancer fight.

“It’s such a learning experience being sick like that ... it’s amazing the way the mind can forget all that stuff,” he told “Page Six” earlier this year. “I’m not thinking too much about the past.”