It was no easy feat for actor Terry Crews and his wife, Rebecca King-Crews, to reach 35 years of marriage.
Crews, 56, who stars in new animated comedy Everybody Still Hates Chris, had a Blended reunion with Drew Barrymore on her talk show on Monday (Oct. 21), where he discussed noticeable changes that happened early in his marriage. The Crews have five children, four of which are from their marriage; Azriél, 33, Tera, 26, Wynfrey, 21, and Isaiah, 19. King-Crews also has an eldest daughter, Naomi Burton, 36, from a previous relationship. For two seasons, the family starred on former BET reality show, The Family Crews.
Around the 1-minute mark of the video below, Barrymore began the interview by seeking advice on how a person should navigate "changes" when they're in a "long relationship."
"With the 35 years we've been married, my wife changed several times, and so did I," Crews replied. "And let me tell you, [by] year 20 in our marriage, we were two different people and we were about to break up, which was crazy."
"It took it literally took almost five years of therapy of counseling of understanding that she was changing, and so did I, that all of a sudden I said, 'Oh, wait, okay now I'll never let that happen again," Crews continued. "I wake up like, 'Who are you? What do you need today? What can I do to help you be the best?'"
Crews admitted that he had only "a little bit of wisdom" when it came to marriage maintenance and changed "as the wisdom grew."
"But as you get wiser, you go, 'You know what? That doesn't belong in my life anymore. I'm taking this and I'm moving on from that. No pity...I'm going to just change today."
The Crews', who celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary on July 29, 2024, spoke to People over the summer about reaching the milestone with lessons they've learned throughout the years.
"First of all, the advice I always give is that you can't love someone and control them at the same time. And I think that's been the key," the actor told the outlet. "A lot of things that I did wrong early in our marriage didn't involve love. It involved control."
After King-Crews joked that her husband "almost died" because of his controlling nature, Crews acknowledged that the two "almost broke up."
"And I'll tell you this: once I learned, it became a new relationship," he said.