Ted Danson’s early romance with Mary Steenburgen included a high-stakes moment in the White House.
Danson, 78, recalled an intense one-on-one with then-President Bill Clinton that centered on the actor’s “intentions” with Steenburgen, a close personal friend of the Clinton family.
“One of the first things she did was take me to her dear friends in the White House,” Danson recalled while hosting a history panel with Bill and Hillary Clinton, according to Variety. “Bill, the President walked me around the corner. There were three Secret Service agents behind him, all looking at me. The President asked me what I meant.”
“First question, Mr. President, do you think this was fair?” the “Cheers” star quipped.
Mr. Clinton replied, “No, but it worked.” “And I didn’t think I had to be fair. After all, you ended up being the best thing that ever happened to her.”
The pair met on the set of Pontiac Moon in 1993 and quickly became one of Hollywood’s most beloved couples. They married in October 1995 in a ceremony on Martha’s Vineyard.
Speaking about their relationship to People magazine in February 2021, Danson explained that he knew he had to propose to his girlfriend because he “can’t imagine not being with her all the time.”
“Not to sound corny, but I would sign up for 100 more lives,” Steenburgen told the outlet. “He’s made me a better person. He’s such a beautiful human being. A great, big soul. I love the way he looks at the world and cares about people. And he’s so funny, which to me is so, so sexy and smells so good.”
After leading successful careers for many years, Danson and Steenburgen had the opportunity to collaborate on Netflix’s “Man on the Inside.” Steenburgen joined the cast of the comedy’s second season as Danson’s character’s love interest.
Steenburgen told People magazine in November 2025 that when she found out she got the role, she “screamed a lot and jumped up and down…because I was so excited to be working with her.”
“We’re both actors,” Danson told the outlet. “We trained the same way. We had really good material to work with. We woke up every morning laughing about what we were supposed to do.”
Fox News Digital’s Lori Bashian contributed to this report.
