Jeff Bridges and Susan Geston: Inside Their 40+ Year Love Story

Actor Jeff Bridges has had an incredibly celebrated acting career. From hit films like The Big Lebowski and Crazy Heart to three Golden Globe wins and a Best Actor Oscar, he's certainly cemented himself as one of the greats in the business. After 40 years of marriage, it seems that Bridges and his wife Susan Geston have it all figured out, even after years of red carpet appearances. The fact that it was love at first sight makes their love story that much sweeter.

It all started when Fargo, North Dakota native Susan was in Paradise Valley, Montana waiting tables to pay her way through college. She never would have dreamed that she would be swept off her feet by a movie star. Bridges was in town filming the 1975 movie Rancho Deluxe and while filming a scene at a place called Chico Hot Springs, he saw Geston for the first time. He just knew he had to ask her out. At the time, she had two black eyes from a car accident, but that just intrigued Bridges even more. 

Geston turned him down, but fate prevailed because they ran into each other again and ended up dancing all night. Bridges immediately fell in love and Geston moved back to Los Angeles with him after filming wrapped. They were really young, Bridges just 24 and Geston 20, but when you know, you know.

Bridges told Good Housekeeping it took him two years to get with the program, lose the cold feet and fear of marriage and just propose to the love of his life.

"Mostly the issue was losing my freedom. After two years of ambivalence, I finally got up the courage to ask Sue to marry me, with the secret assurance in mind that I could always get a divorce. Thank God I finally got with the program. It's true, you close one door, but the door you open is a long hallway lined with more incredible doors -- like children, grandchildren, deeper intimacy with your wife, and so many other things that would not be available to you without marriage. Frightening as it was for me, there was also the sense of deeply opening my heart."

 

Their relationship prevailed over the years, despite the fact that many relationships between Hollywood celebs fail. The couple has also faced hard times, like Bridges' battle with Lymphoma, which he announced in October. For Bridges, he wasn't interested in cheating or divorce. He told Reddit that the hardest part is just schedules associated with filming. 

"The toughest thing about making movies is being apart from your family. One of the things I try my best to do is call my wife every day, to keep up to speed with what's going on in her life. And tell her what's going on with mine. Often when you're apart from your loved one like that for so long, your connection kind of atrophies unless you keep engaged, even if it's small everyday kind of stuff."

The happy couple shares three daughters, Isabelle Annie, Jessica Lily Bridges ("Jessie"), and Haley Roselouise Bridges. They even have a 10-year-old granddaughter named Grace. Bridges told Jimmy Kimmel that he prefers to go by "Dude-pa" which is fitting considering he's famously known as "The Dude."

Loyd Catlett, Bridges' longtime friend, and stand-in, describes their relationship perfectly to AARP. "Sue brings Jeff down to earth. In this business, you've got everybody telling you how great you are. In a loving way, she says, 'All right, honey, let's get down to reality.'"

This post was originally published on October 20, 2020. 

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