BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN GUITARIST STEVEN VAN ZANDT JOKES THE KEY TO HIS 40-YEAR MARRIAGE TO WIFE MAUREEN IS 'STAYING APART': 'YOU GO HOME AND IT'S ALWAYS NEW AGAIN'

Steven Van Zandt and his wife Maureen will celebrate 42 years of marriage on New Year's Eve, and now he's revealing the key to their longevity.

The 73-year-old guitarist and longtime member of Bruce Springsteen's iconic E-Street Band and his 72-year-old wife will put their lives on display in an upcoming HBO documentary dubbed Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple.

The documentary premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June and debuted on the Max streaming service late last month.

While promoting the film in a new interview with People, Van Zandt was asked the key to his marriage's longevity... which he revealed was separation.

'As I often say, the key to staying together is stay apart. We've been together, God, what is it now, 40-plus years and probably have spent about 10 years of that together out of the 40, because I'm always on the road,' he admitted. 

'So, you go home, and it's always new again,' he added, admitting that his wife has more than enough on her plate to keep her busy while he's gone.  

'I think there is something to keeping one's own identity. She's a very, very strong person. She has a theater company. She's the real actor in the family,' he admitted. 

'She's the real thing. Aside from her literary knowledge, she teaches acting to American Ballet Theater. She was a ballet dancer,' Van Zandt added.

The musician adds, 'I think finding a way to keep one's identity and making sure that one plus one equals three rather than one plus one equals one-and-a-half.'

He added that the latter formula, 'you see all the time in relationships where people just start to lose their identity and compromise it in order to get along.'

Van Zandt did admit that neither of them are particularly good at compromising, but they've found a way to make it work after four decades. 

'I think with some boundaries, if you will, allowing the other one to have their very strong identity and coming together and finding the common ground. We have both. That's the key,' he admits.

The upcoming documentary shows the couple's private life, which is something director Bill Teck said he wanted to showcase.

'I just wanted to reflect their love. I never fail to be moved when Stevie's singing the song to Maureen at the end,' Teck revealed.

'It's inspiring to me as a man and as a person in a relationship, as a human being, I should say, and as a person in a relationship, the commitment and the love and how present those two are for each other, how protective they are of each other,' he added. 

'So, I was very honored and moved that we were able to bring that off,' Teck continued.

Van Zandt admitted in the documentary that he went 'nuts' for her the first time they met, but it took him a year before convincing her to go out with him. 

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2024-07-02T01:19:28Z dg43tfdfdgfd