James Cameron has found the key to a successful marriage after four previous divorces.
The filmmaker, 71, discussed marriage and divorce in a recent interview on podcast In Depth With Graham Bensinger and shared that he's "admired and loved" his past spouses. Cameron, who's been married to former actress Suzy Amis since 2000, was previously married to actress Linda Hamilton from 1997 to 1999; Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow from 1989 to 1991; entertainment producer Gale Hurd from 1985 to 1989 and Sharon Williams from 1978 to 1984. Cameron shares a daughter with Hamilton and three children with Amis.
Cameron said that he was "actively married" with his past wives for less than a year, with the separation and divorce process prolonging the relationships. "There was always a little bit of a long sort of decay curve through separation and divorce but actively married, cohabitating for one year four times," Cameron told Bensinger. "So I wasn't very good at it."
The Avatar: Fire and Ash director added that he's "happily" married to Amis after having "earned that happiness" through trial and error. "So I think it's a learned art and I think that we all grew up with a kind of a fairy tale kind of approach to marriage and our culture," Cameron added.
Cameron also said that women "invest" more into marriage than men and recommended that couples get married in Las Vegas to save their money but "put all that effort and energy into the work it takes to really be with somebody relationally for a long period of time."
"Because you're constantly learning about the other person and you have to make a I think you have to make a pact with yourself to actively want to make them happy," he continued. "Not your version of what should make them happy, but what actually makes them happy."
Cameron explained that he used to treat the sanctity of marriage on a "conditional" basis before realizing that he was the "common dominator" of his ended marriages.
"I could unpack each one individually and they were all different learning curves and they were all different experiences," he said. "Linda Hamilton and I hung on for a long time, long, long after we probably should have. We were together for seven years and weloved each other. We just didn't get along."
Cameron expressed that he falls for women that he can "learn from" but didn't fairly "pre-select" spouses that he could tolerate for a lifetime.
"I really admired and loved the women that I was [with] and I'm grateful for that time, because I I learned from it. I learned from them," he concluded. "I always feel I came out of it better than when I went into it."