Actor Dan Aykroyd and his wife Donna Dixon have announced their plans to separate after almost 40 years of marriage.
“After 39 years of living together, we are now on different paths in life. We remain legally married, relatives, colleagues and business partners,” the 69—year-old graduate of the Saturday Night Live show and 64-year-old Dixon said in a joint statement to People on Friday, April 29. “This is our choice in loving friendship.”
The estranged couple tied the knot in 1983 after meeting earlier that year on the set of Doctor Detroit.
“You have to find the right person— look him in the eye, make him look back and get to know his soul,” Aykroyd told the Tampa Bay Times in May 2014 about their partnership. “She’s a Southerner who understands and doesn’t mind dealing with boys from time to time. I call her the White Goddess. And I’m a Green Demon.
The duo, who starred in the films “The Twilight Zone: The Movie”, “Spies like Us” and “Exit to Eden”, have three daughters: Danielle (stage name Vera Sola), Belle and Stella.
The Canadian native became famous as a writer and actor on SNL before he starred in films such as “Miss Daisy’s Chauffeur,” “Switch Places,” “Crossroads” and “Grosse Pointe Blanc.”
“The moment I started acting, I was in ‘show business,'” Aykroyd told the BBC in January 2020. Every audition is a sale, then you have to sign a contract, union obligations, tax planning, and — if you have a good acting job — an investment.”
At that time, he continued: “Then, when I created my projects, that is, I sold some of the material, I had to set the cost and make a deal. So I was in show business all the time. It’s not that hard to look at numbers in another dimension.”
The “Blues Brothers” star was previously engaged to the late Carrie Fisher after they met backstage on the NBC variety series and then shared the screen in the 1980 musical comedy.
“I met Carrie on Saturday night live,” he recalled in January 2017 in an interview with Empire magazine. “She and John Belushi instantly became friends. I remember how much she made him laugh. Later, during the filming of The Blues Brothers, Carrie and I fell in love, and during the filming she moved with me to a penthouse in a futuristic aluminum Astro Tower, for which I had to apologize. Carrie had the most subtle view of art and design.”
He continued: “Carrie wasn’t shallow, we had a great time. She was also in love with Paul Simon. She married him, but I hope she kept my ring.
After their breakup in 1980, the Star Wars actress, who died in December 2016 of a heart attack, reunited with 80-year-old Simon. After their breakup, she dated Brian Lourd, with whom she shared a daughter, Billie Lourd.
