Tom Selleck & Wife of 34 Years Have ‘Yin & Yang’ Relationship After $75 Secret Ceremony

Tom Selleck doesn’t talk much about his private life, but when he does, it’s clear he made choices most actors never would. His first marriage fell apart just as his career took off. He married model Jacqueline Ray in 1971 and adopted her son, Kevin. By 1982, it was over. “I always planned to be married for life,” he told People. The tabloids ran their easy headline—fame ruined another marriage—but he said they’d already split six months before Magnum P.I. even started. It still hurt.

Then London happened. 1983. Selleck was filming Lassiter and couldn’t stop going to see Cats. Jane Seymour teased him for it. But it wasn’t the show. It was Jillie Mack—the dancer playing Rumpleteazer. He kept showing up until he finally asked her out. Her first words: “Want to grab a cocktail?” She moved to Hawaii soon after to be with him.

In 1987, they got married in Lake Tahoe. No crowd, no press. The license cost twenty-seven dollars. The ceremony, seventy-five. Just family. He was still one of TV’s biggest stars—and a year later, he quit. “I worked ninety hours a week,” he said. “I left to have a family.”

Their daughter, Hannah, was born in 1988. They bought a ranch in Ventura County and stayed there. He still makes Jillie’s tea every morning.

He says he doesn’t know the secret to marriage. “We’re both independent. There’s a lot of yin and yang in us. I’m kind of quiet. She’s got this joie de vivre. I don’t know what our secret is, but I’m happy.”

Hannah rides horses for a living now. The family still keeps to themselves—no red carpets, no press circuits, no noise.

No gloss, no show, no myth. Just a man who built a life that fits him.

Sources: People, Hello Magazine, Closer Weekly