By Jessica Booth Jessica Booth Jessica Booth is a contributing writer at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2022. Her work has appeared in Brides, Parents, What To Expect, Romper, and The Knot. People Editorial Guidelines Updated on December 19, 2024 10:16AM ESTChristopher Guest and Jamie Lee Curtis attend the 95th annual Academy Awards in March 2023. Photo:

The romance between the Freaky Friday actress and Princess Bride star began with a magazine and a phone call. Though Curtis instantly knew he was the one, it took an in-person run-in for Guest to set up their first date, but within six months, they were husband and wife.

Ahead of the couple’s 40th wedding anniversary in December 2024, Curtis told Entertainment Tonight that the secret to a long-lasting marriage is that “you don’t leave.” She continued, “I’m sober for a long time, and we have a phrase in recovery: ‘If you stay on the bus, the scenery will change.’ And that’s marriage.”

It was love at first sightJamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest attend “Perfect” premiere in May 1985 in New York City.

In a personal essay she wrote for PEOPLE in 2022, she revealed that there was a connection between her marriage and her iconic role in the Halloween movies.

“I was with the writer of the original Halloween when I saw my husband of 37 years for the first time,” she said. “Debra Hill and I were on my couch in West Hollywood in 1984. I opened up an issue of Rolling Stone, saw Christopher Guest in a Spinal Tap story and said, ‘I’m gonna marry that guy.’ (I did, six months later).”

Curtis expanded on this story in a different essay she wrote for Oprah.com in 2004. She explained that Hill told her who Guest was, saying he had been in the movie This Is Spinal Tap and she knew his agent. Curtis called his agent to give him her number if Guest wanted to call, but he never did.

“On July 2, Chris and I had our first date at Chianti Ristorante on Melrose,” she shared. “And by August 8, when he left to tape a year of Saturday Night Live in New York City, we’d fall in love.”

They got married six months after meeting Christopher Guest and Jamie Lee Curtis attend the “Baby Boom” Beverly Hills Premiere in October 1987.

Speaking on the subject to The Guardian in 2016, Guest said, “We still have that original photo hanging up at the house.”

They have two kidsRuby Guest, Christopher Guest, Jamie Lee Curtis and Annie Guest attend the Jamie Lee Curtis Hand and Footprint Ceremony in October 2022 in Hollywood, California.

In Pact’s Point of View Newsletter, Curtis touched on her experience with motherhood, saying, “Motherhood is every wonderful cliché in the book. There is an unexplainable sort of thing you just feel. It’s a permanent commitment, one I’ve changed my life to meet.”

Since then, Curtis has been her daughter’s biggest supporter. “Being a parent is about love and I love Ruby,” she said during an interview on Morning Joe. “Love her. People have said, ‘You’re so great to accept her love.’ What are you talking about? This is my daughter, this human being has come to me and said, ‘This is who I am.’ ”

They’re both in the entertainment business Christopher Guest and Jamie Lee Curtis arrive at a screening of Netflix’s “Mascots” in October 2016 in Los Angeles, California.

Curtis is an award-winning actress who is most well-known for her roles in slasher and horror films that have earned her the moniker “Scream Queen.” Aside from her iconic role as Laurie in the Halloween films, she has also been in comedies like Trading Places and the Academy Award-winning drama Everything Everywhere All at Once, which earned her an Oscar as well.

The actress is also a 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren’s book author, having released over two dozen projects since her 1993 debut with When I Was Little: A Four-Year-Old’s Memoir of Her Youth. Curtis will release her next 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren’s book in January 2024 titled Just One More Sleep: All Good Things Come to Those Who Wait . . . and Wait . . . and Wait about being patient around the holiday season. Most recently, she co-authored the graphic novel Mother Nature.

Guest is known as a writer and director but has also dabbled in acting. He starred in the 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap. He has also worked on movies like Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, Mascots and For Your Consideration.

Their parents had unconventional careersJamie Lee Curtis with her parents, dad Tony Curtis and mom Janet Leigh.

Another experience Curtis and Guest share is growing up with parents with notable careers. Curtis’ parents were accomplished actors Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis. Leigh is best recognized for her role in the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho, while Curtis was in various films, like Some Like It Hot and Spartacus.

According to The New York Times, Peter “acceded to a hereditary Labor peerage” after his father, Leslie Haden-Guest, died, and the same happened when he died.

In a 2016 interview with The Guardian, Guest revealed he’s a baron. “I’m Lord Haden-Guest,” he said. “And yes, that’s a novelty. Born into it by accident, obviously. And then your dad dies and you’re the next one.”

Their personalities are very differentChristopher Guest and Jamie Lee Curtis at the ‘This is Spinal Tap’ 35th anniversary screening during the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2019.

In a 2018 interview with Good Housekeeping, Curtis described her and Guest as “opposites,” saying they have been since they met and “always will be.”

Curtis also called Guest “an intellectual” and revealed that for their 30th anniversary, they both read the history book Undaunted Courage, inspired by Lewis and Clark.

They have a supportive unionChristopher Guest and Jamie Lee Curtis attend the Los Angeles premiere of “For Your Consideration” in November 2006 in Los Angeles, California.

While Curtis and Guest may have their differences, they are always there for each other. In a 2021 interview with AARP, Curtis said, “I feel safe when I drive up and see that [he is] home. That’s the long marriage.”

Two years later, at a San Diego Comic-Con panel, Curtis shared that Guest had encouraged her to write her graphic novel, Mother Nature.

They know how to work through tough times Jamie Lee Curtis and husband Christopher Guest at a Comedy Central after party in April 2001.

“Don’t get divorced,” she said on Today in 2015. “It’s a fascinating thing. I could write a book on marriage called Don’t Leave.”

Speaking with Good Housekeeping in 2018, she was asked the same question and elaborated on the subject.

They are good friends with Jodie Foster

The Halloween alum delivered a touching speech about her beloved friend — calling Foster a “creative force,” a “loving wife” and a “dedicated mother.”