Susan Walters (Diane; ex-Lorna, LOVING) and Linden Ashby (ex-Cameron; ex-Curtis, LOVING) Walters, who kicked off her LOVING career in 1983, first laid eyes on Ashby in the makeup room — and promptly predicted to her makeup artist that she would marry him. He became her castmate in 1985 and by January 1986, they were engaged. They took the plunge on April 19, 1986 at the Children’s Chapel of St. Bartholomew’s in New York City, with many of their LOVING co-stars in attendance. “When we were pronounced married, Linden kissed me and I swooned,” Walters recalled to Digest in June. “I’m an actress, so I really sold it.” They added daughters Grace and Savannah to their brood in June 1991 and November 1992, respectively, and overlapped at Y&R (albeit in separate storylines) from 2003-04. The couple became first-time grandparents in August when Grace welcomed a baby girl, Nora.
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Eileen Davidson (Ashley) and Vincent Van Patten (ex-Christian) Davidson and Van Patten met in 2000 when he was brought on to play opposite her in Genoa City. Van Patten’s gig was short-lived, but the duo’s bond proved enduring. They wed on April 15, 2003, making Davidson stepmother to Duke, 29, and Vinny, 27, from Van Patten’s first marriage, and on May 20, 2003, they became parents to son Jesse, 19. As a guest on Digest’s podcast, Dishing With Digest, earlier this year, Davidson noted, “I met my husband on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS [and] in retrospect, clearly, it makes perfect sense [that I returned to Y&R in 1999]. I mean, if that’s the only reason I came back, was to meet Vincent and have my son and my two incredible, bonus stepsons — it’s everything!” She concluded, “We’ve been married almost 20 years and have a great life.” The couple shared an on-screen soap reunion this past summer on Peacock’s BEYOND SALEM: CHAPTER 2, where Davidson reprised the role of Kristen and Van Patten played the role of Phil Hellworth.
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Amelia Heinle (Victoria) and Thad Luckinbill (ex-J.T.) Luckinbill joined Y&R in 1999, but Heinle didn’t cross paths with her future husband until she came aboard in 2005. Her first impression? “I thought he was kind of cute,” she told Digest in 2013, adding that it was when he made her laugh that she thought about giving romance a chance (“comedy always works on me”). When they coupled up, they kept it a secret from their co-workers, and Heinle explained in the same interview that they finally went public because “we decided to get married and nobody knew we were dating, so by the time we started to tell people we were engaged, they were like, ‘What?! You’re dating?!’ ” They wed on March 3, 2007, the year before their characters said, “I do”; two children — Thaddeus Rowe, born on November 2, 2007, and daughter Georgia, born on December 17, 2009 — followed. In March 2017, Luckinbill filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences, but the couple subsequently reconciled. She beamed to Digest in March, “He’s done so well [outside of Y&R] and I’m so proud of him.”
Justin Hartley (ex- Adam) and Sofia Pernas (ex-Marisa) When Pernas was hired to play Marisa in 2015, Hartley, divorced from Lindsay Hartley (ex-Theresa, PASSIONS et al) since 2012, was already playing Adam and had been dating soap darling Chrishell Stause, who was playing DAYS’s Jordan at the time. Although they were in independent storylines, Hartley and Pernas struck up a friendship, but they went their separate ways when both exited the show in 2016. Hartley and Stause wed in October 2017 but finalized their divorce in February 2021. By then, he and Pernas were a committed duo, and they tied the knot in March 2021. On Hartley’s birthday in January, Pernas paid tribute to her husband on Instagram, calling him her “one-in-a-solar system” and writing, “Thank you for being such a giver, and just being all around perfect.”
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