Pierce Brosnan believes that he and wife Keely Shaye Smith are stronger for all they’ve been through together.
“We like each other a lot. We love each other a lot,” Brosnan, 70, said of the secret to the pair’s relationship during a Tuesday, December 12, interview with Fox News. “And we’ve been down the road, and we’ve seen many, many hardships as families do, as we all do.”
The actor continued: “But watching someone grow up with you and grow old with you is a very spiritual journey. To watch each other change … whatever it may be, the hair [or] the waist … it’s [about] the love in the heart.”
Brosnan met Smith, 60, in 1994, three years after his first wife, Cassandra Harris, died of ovarian cancer. Prior to Harris’ death, she and Brosnan welcomed son Sean in 1983. (Brosnan also adopted Harris’ daughter, Charlotte, and son, Chris, whom she shared with her late ex.)
During a 2018 interview with Closer, Brosnan opened up about being “lucky enough to find love again” with Smith after losing his first wife.
“We were meant to find each other. I thank God for her every day,” he said. “When Keely looks at me, I go weak. I love her vitality, her passion. She has this strength that I wouldn’t be able to live without.”
Brosnan and Smith tied the knot in Ireland in 2001. They share sons Dylan and Paris, born in 1997 and 2001, respectively. On Tuesday, Brosnan gushed about the “supportive” figure Smith has been for him and his sons.
“Keeley is a journalist, a reporter. She’s an artist in her own right. And as a woman, she has made a family for our sons,” he said. “She allows me to go out into the wild blue yonder and do what I do as a man, as an actor, [she] always has.”
Despite forays into the “blue yonder” for his acting career, Brosnan always carries Smith with him. He subtly honored his wife by wearing his real wedding ring on screen in his 2022 film Black Adam.
“This is our wedding ring and this is a watch that Keely bought me many years ago with an inscription that [reads], ‘Time flies on love’s wings,'” Brosnan told Entertainment Tonight at the movie’s premiere. “I decided to wear it for this character. It seemed appropriate.”
Brosnan isn’t the only romantic in the relationship. Smith sang her husband’s praises during a joint interview with Closer in 2018.
“Pierce is intelligent, captivating and his real beauty emanates from the soul,” she told the outlet. “And, like a fine wine, he’s aging beautifully.”
