Jeff Bridges and his wife Susan Bridges have a love story that has been going on for years.
The couple met in 1975 while Jeff was filming a movie Rancho Deluxe, and married in 1977. Susan and the actor had three children and supported each other through some of life’s most difficult moments, such as Jeff’s cancer diagnosis and his terrible battle with COVID.
Although they have been married for more than 45 years, it seems that the couple is still in the honeymoon phase.
“We don’t have to do much. Just being in the same vicinity is beautiful,” Jeff told PEOPLE of Susan in May 2022.
So who is Susan Bridges? Here’s everything you need to know about Jeff Bridges’ wife.
She met Jeff in 1975
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Susan is originally from Fargo, North Dakota. When she met Jeff, she was 21 and working as a waitress at a restaurant in Paradise Valley, Montana, to save money for college.
She is an actress and producer
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Although Susan’s film list is not as long as her husband’s, she is also an actress. She appeared in films Stay hungry (1976) i Prohibited area (1980), as well as the TV series Extra (2015). Susan also has a number of producing credits including Cold feet (1989).
Jeff fell in love with her at first sight
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The Real courage the actor described the meeting with Susan as “love at first sight”. The couple met while Jeff was filming a movie in 1975 Rancho Deluxe in Paradise Valley, Montana, where Susan was working at the time. “I’m doing this scene with Sam Waterston and Harry Dean Stanton and I can’t take my eyes off this beautiful, I didn’t know what she was, a maid, a waitress, I couldn’t take my eyes off her,” Jeff said of their first meeting during a 2018 interview Today.
Although it was an immediate connection for him, Susan didn’t feel that way at first, and Jeff admitted that asking Susan out was no easy task – when he “finally worked up the courage to ask her out,” she said no.
Despite the initial rejection, the two ran into each other again and hit it off. “She came to the end of the party and we danced and fell in love and boom, that was it,” Jeff said.
She married Jeff in 1977
Despite being “madly in love” with Susan, as Jeff wrote in a 2014 essay. Good housekeepinghe hesitated about marriage.
“I came from such good parents and I didn’t know if Sue or I had it in me. Mostly the problem was the loss of my freedom,” he wrote. “After two years of ambivalence, I finally plucked up the courage to ask Sue to marry me, with the secret assurance in mind that I could always get a divorce. Thank God I finally accepted the program.”
Jeff and Susan were married on June 5, 1977.
She was by Jeff’s side through chemotherapy and near-death experiences with COVID
Jeff Bridges and wife Susan. Michael Buckner/WireImage
Susan was Jeff’s support system when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in October 2020. While Jeff is now in remission, the couple opened up about the year and a half he was sick, as well as his near-death experience with COVID 19.
“I didn’t have any defenses. That’s what chemo does — it takes away your entire immune system. I had nothing to fight against… COVID made my cancer look like nothing,” Jeff told PEOPLE about contracting COVID while treated for cancer. “I was pretty close to death. The doctors kept telling me, ‘Jeff, you have to fight. You’re not fighting.’ I was in surrender mode. I was ready to go. I was dancing with my mortality.”
When she saw her husband in pain, Susan said, “We didn’t know if he was going to recover. . . . I said, ‘Save his life. No matter what you have to do.’ ”
“Now it’s all like a bad dream,” she continued. “And now it’s a good part of sleep.”
Although the experience was difficult for the couple, Jeff said something good came out of it. “Who would say, ‘I’d like some cancer and give a dose of COVID?’ But my ability to take in all the love has only increased,” he told PEOPLE. – Everything is twisted in the most beautiful way.
She and Jeff have three children together
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Susan and Jeff are the parents of three grown daughters: Isabelle, Jessica and Hayley.
Children are very important to the couple, and the girls are equally grateful to their parents, whose long-term relationship served as their inspiration.
“They love each other, but they love each other, they spend time together. They try to ask each other questions about what the other is interested in,” Jeff and Susan’s oldest daughter Isabelle told PEOPLE of her parents.
When their youngest daughter, Hayley, got married about a year after Jeff was diagnosed with lymphoma, the award-winning actor made it his goal to be able to walk her down the aisle, and he worked with a trainer to achieve the milestone.
“Finally, one day I said, ‘Maybe I can do it, you know.’ And it turned out that not only did I walk her down the aisle, but I also got to do the wedding dance. That was great,” he told The Independent.
She and Jeff are grandparents
Through their eldest daughter Isabella, the couple are grandparents to two young grandchildren, Gracie and Ben.
In November 2022, Isabelle posted a photo of Jeff dancing with her granddaughter Gracie, with the caption, “Learning to dance is a big part of the Bridges family tradition.”
The secret of their long marriage is mutual respect
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From love at first sight to marriage, Susan and Jeff’s relationship spans over four decades. In October 2020, the couple revealed to PEOPLE that the key to their lasting marriage is mutual respect.
“We’re quite different as people and we celebrate that rather than let it tear us apart. I respect her wisdom and I’m sure the girls do too,” Jeff said. “I am truly blessed.”
He added: “Time goes by so quickly, and it’s so precious. To spend it with the people you love, there’s nothing richer than that.”
She and Jeff have walked many red carpets together
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Jeff has been with Susan almost as long as he’s been in Hollywood, and she’s supported him through it all, attending various movie premieres and awards shows with him over the years.
In January 2024, the couple attended the 75th Emmy Awards. Susan dazzled in a silver dress with tassels and sequins, while Jeff looked dapper in a black tuxedo.
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