Divorces seem to run rampant in Hollywood, so it’s rare to find a couple whose marriage is able to stand the test of time there. That’s what makes the marriage between Delta Burke, 62, and Gerald McRaney, 71, so special!

In 2017, McRaney won an Emmy for Best Drama Guest Actor for playing Dr. K in the NBC show “This Is Us.” In his speech, he let the world know how much Burke means to him.

“As a man, I had the love of the finest woman I can possibly imagine,” he said.

Thirty years before, Burke and McRaney “came out” as a couple on the very same carpet at the 1987 Emmy Awards after they met on the set of his show “Simon & Simon.” Burke was at the height of her fame from her show “Designing Women,” and she immediately hit it off with McRaney when she guest starred on his show.

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The two have been inseparable ever since.

“He asked me to marry him on the second date,” she recalled. “So we’re pretty committed.”

McRaney knew how many guys wanted Burke at the time, so he had to act quickly.

“I wasn’t going to let her get away,” he said.

McRaney had constantly been warned to avoid marrying an actress, but he knew right away that Burke was a special woman in that she would always understand his career.

“They’re the only people who understand this insanity,” he said. “And she does. If I’m on location, and I don’t call her until 2 o’clock in the morning, no big deal. She knows.”

The couple married in May of 1989, and two years later, they were hit a major challenge when Burke was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and depression. At the time, she was also battling with her weight. McRaney was still with her as her support system every step of the way.

“It didn’t matter to him how fat I got,” Burke said. “He reminds me what I should be doing or shouldn’t be eating. He likes to give me my (insulin) shots and says it makes him feel like he’s taking care of me.”

Burke has always supported her husband in return, and she was overjoyed when he finally won his Emmy last year.

“I have wanted him to be nominated for so many years, I cannot tell you,” she said. “I think that’s he’s richly deserved it, and that they’ve noticed him and acknowledged him this year makes me want to cry.”

These days, the couple lives in New Orleans. Burke has largely stepped away from acting to run Delta Burke Designs, which releases “real clothes for real women” for full-figured ladies over the age of 35. However, she may be reprising her role of Suzanne Sugarbaker in a reboot of “Designing Women” in the near future.

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