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In a recent interview with AARP The Magazine, 75-year-old actor Samuel L. Jackson discussed his 44-year marriage with LaTanya Richardson, revealing the challenges they've overcome, including some "crazy" moments.
When asked about how he keeps his marriage going, Samuel said, "A lot of tolerance, because everybody’s got flaws, and not giving up when it would be easy to give up."
He continued, "I’ve done s--- in my marriage that’s crazy, you know? She has, too, in her head, or whatever in reality, but you got to go, 'Is that a breakup offense?' Or is it just that we need to spend a little time together and get some understanding about it?"
The Marvel star went on to say that the other option is to just "ignore" the other's bothersome qualities. "Or there are certain things that you learn to ignore about people – that she’s learned to ignore about me," he said.
Samuel gave an example of something that LaTanya, 74, has learned to "accept" about him over the years, which is his work ethic.
"I’m going to go to work all the time until, you know, it’s time," the actor insisted.
Samuel and LaTanya celebrated 44 years of marriage in April after meeting in college. They have a daughter, Zoe, who is 42. In a 2022 interview with PEOPLE, the couple shared that they made a pact to stay together no matter the challenges they face in their marriage.
"In the beginning, we always said the most revolutionary thing that Black people could do was stay together, raise their children with the nucleus of having a father and a mother, since everybody likes to pretend that that's not the dynamic of the African American family," LaTanya said at the time. "That it's just children out here being raised by women, which we know is false."
She continued, "In order to change that narrative, we made a decision to say, 'We are going to stay together no matter what. We'll figure it out.' "
In the early days of their marriage, Samuel battled his addiction to drugs. The actor recalled the experience in his AARP interview, saying, "My wife and daughter found me lying on the floor. My best friend from high school was a drug counselor and my wife called him, and I was in rehab the next day. I didn’t go kicking and screaming because I was tired."