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Kimberly Williams-Paisley recently shared the secret to her 23-year marriage to country star Brad Paisley, and it’s pretty simple: “Don’t leave.”
“I heard Jamie Lee Curtis say recently, the secret is ‘Don’t leave.’ I thought that was really, actually brilliant,” Williams-Paisley told Fox News Digital at the red carpet for the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood. “Yeah, just know there’s gonna be ups and downs and don’t give up. That was our secret.”
While the actress and the “Whiskey Lullaby” singer are both busy with their careers, the 54-year-old said they make the most of the time they have together.
“We find time, we have to be deliberate about it,” she explained. “And I mean, we’re married 23 years now. And we’ve also, there’s times when we’re busier and times when we’re not. And right now I’m busier and, you know, he’s about to start a tour this summer, which will make him busy. But when we have the downtime, we really make the most of it.”
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Kimberly Williams-Pasiley and Brad Paisley have been married for 23 years. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg)
The “9-1-1: Nashville” star revealed that Paisley gave her a romantic surprise for their anniversary this year.
Just know there’s gonna be ups and downs and don’t give up. That was our secret.”
“He wrote me a letter that was really sweet, and that was a surprise, because he hadn’t written me a romantic letter in a long time, and it meant a lot to me,” she said.
KIMBERLY WILLIAMS-PAISLEY SHARES 2-WORD SECRET FOR HER MARRIAGE TO BRAD PAISLEY
Williams-Paisley also went through a health scare recently, when she was diagnosed with partial vocal cord paralysis and was unable to speak above a whisper for two years.
KIMBERLY WILLIAMS-PAISLEY’S SUDDEN HEALTH SYMPTOMS LEFT ACTRESS UNABLE TO SPEAK FOR 2 YEARS
After uncovering what the issue was following an 18-month mystery, the actress underwent multiple vocal cord surgeries and finally got an implant.
KIMBERLY WILLIAMS-PAISLEY REVEALS THE HEALTH CHANGES SHE MADE AFTER VOCAL CORD SCARE
“Don’t give up, same advice,” Williams-Paisley said she would tell others dealing with their own health struggles.
Kimberly Williams-Paisley said her husband wrote her a romantic note for their last anniversary. (Kimberly Williams-Paisley/Instagram)
“I’m really fortunate that there was an answer for my condition, but in the meantime, looking for the answer, I wound up making a lot of healthy choices that I hadn’t been making before,” she explained. “I started a regular meditation practice, I started really lifting weights in earnest, I started eating better, all these things, trying to find the answer to my vocal cords, and when I did finally get the surgery and everything, I had all of the benefits of all the other things that I gained while I was trying to find the answers, and that has changed my life.”
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Williams-Paisley added that she now feels “more grounded, I feel more centered, I feel like I know myself better.”
She said she realized after her ordeal that “there are blessings in any sort of challenge. Look for those.”
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“I don’t take it for granted,” she added of her health. “Yeah, I definitely am grateful for having it.”
Kimberly Williams-Paisley at the 2026 TCM Classic Film Festival opening night ceremony. (Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for TCM)
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KIMBERLY WILLIAMS-PAISLEY REVEALS ‘REALLY GOOD’ ADVICE STEVE MARTIN GAVE HER ON ‘FATHER OF THE BRIDE’ SET
Williams-Paisley also discussed working with Steve Martin and the late Diane Keaton in her breakout role “Father of the Bride,” which she presented at the classic film festival.
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“It was incredible. I mean, I was 19 years old, so I was shot out of a cannon, basically,” she laughed. “But they were so wonderful. They were just really supportive and showed me the ropes and, you know, explained things to me, because I really didn’t know anything.”
Kimberly Williams-Paisley with Steve Martin in a scene from the 1991 film “Father of the Bride.” (Touchstone/Getty Images)
She said she was such a novice in the business that she didn’t know about hitting her mark, timing, and how to pace herself, “and they both were really wonderful to work with.”
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The main advice Martin gave her on set was to “get a good therapist and that was really good advice. And then Diane was someone that I could just talk to about anything, she was just very down-to-earth and easy to talk to and that helped me a lot because there was a lot to process.”
“They were hilarious, especially watching Steve Martin and Martin Short together,” she added. “They were so funny, and it was hard not to laugh. It was probably hard for them not to laugh. I’d love to see the outtakes from those films.”