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24 September 2024, 16:54
The secret to Barry Gibb & Linda Gray's 54-year marriage
They've been married for over five decades.
Barry Gibb and his loving wife Linda Gray are undoubtedly a model couple, at least when it comes to a long-term, loving marriage.
She has no doubt inspired some of the Bee Gees' most beautiful songs, with the likes of 'Words' and specifically 'Let There Be Love' dedicated to her.
Linda must be one hell of a woman - she was certainly blessed with beauty, having won the title of Miss Edinburgh in 1967.
That was in fact the year she met Barry, who felt an instant connection and fell in love almost immediately.
They tied the knot three years later at Caxton Hall in London on 1st September 1970, and have remarkably been together since, through thick and thin.
In a 2017 interview on Piers Morgan: Life Stories, Barry revealed the secret to their enduring love, saying: "We tend to laugh a lot at everything around us [more] than we could find anything to be unhappy about."
Opening up to Piers Morgan about a series of subjects surrounding his life and career, the conversation turned to his marriage, and how Barry first met Linda.
She had recently become Miss Edinburgh and was hosting the episode of Top Of The Pops when the Bee Gees went to number one with 'Massachusetts'.
"We just saw each other across the room and something happened," he said, recalling that there was spontaneous bonding between the pair.
"The girls I was with, they said, 'Oh my god, that guy is so handsome. He's looking at you! Oh, he's coming over' she said. 'He asked me if I’d like to go for a cup of tea'."
When Morgan probed to see if it was love at first sight, Gibb said, "I think it was. In my head I thought, 'That's the woman I’m going to spend my life with'."
"[Linda] is a very, very special person. She's just so full of love and full of fun, and she has a great sense of humour," Gibb gushed to Morgan.
"We tend to laugh a lot at everything around us [more] than we could find anything to be unhappy about."
It's a mantra and a perspective on life together which has seen them ride out the many highs and lows of Barry's life and career, including the death of his three brothers, Maurice, Robin, and Andy.
Even their second eldest son Ashley vouched for how in love they still are with one another, adding on Piers Morgan: Life Stories: "Still, they love each other today just like they did then."