The original 'Mary Poppins' actor opens up on the secret to his healthy long life, crediting his 'beautiful young wife' with taking care of and infecting him with her positive attitude.
- Feb 23, 2023
AceShowbiz - Dick Van Dyke declares having a "beautiful young wife" keeps him youthful. Married to make-up artist Arlene Silver, 51, the 97-year-old "Mary Poppins" star is convinced being with a partner who is almost half his age is the secret to feeling young and spritely well into his 90s.
"Genes, I guess, for one thing. Having a beautiful young wife half my age to take care of me - that works! My positive attitude, I get that from my wife," he replied in an interview with Yahoo! when he was asked how he stays so "youthful."
The couple married in 2012 when Dick was 86 and Arlene was 40 after previously meeting six years earlier at the SAG Awards. Dick added that he still goes to the gym three times a week and he thinks regular exercise also helps keep him healthy.
He explained, "I still go to the gym three days a week and work out. And I advise everybody to do that, because that's what ages people - it's just a stiffening up and not exercising their muscles and their lungs. Exercise is the answer."
Dick recently returned to TV with an appearance on "The Masked Singer" and he is convinced no one would have guessed he was behind the disguise because many people assumed he was "dead." He told Entertainment Weekly, "I knew that they couldn't guess who I was."
"I don't think they expected anybody from my generation to be on that show. So I knew I was gonna fool them. They were so surprised. I stepped out and everybody's mouths dropped open. I think some people thought I was dead."
He added of the show, "When they asked me to do it, I had never seen it. So I looked at it on the air and it looked like fun. And I was so positive that nobody would ever guess it was me, that they would have somebody 97 years old on there."
