Marriage has a reputation for being tough, and lasting happiness together can feel like a mystery.
Harrison Ford appears to have found a formula that works. The 83-year-old actor and his wife, Calista Flockhart, 61, have now spent 15 years married.
Ford highlighted just how much his wife means to him on Sunday (1 March) as he was honored with SAG-AFTRA’s annual Lifetime Achievement Award, marking a career that has spanned more than five decades.
Clearly moved, he delivered an emotional eight-minute acceptance speech, a moment that left both him and Flockhart in tears.
“Sometimes we make entertainment; sometimes we make art. Sometimes we’re lucky to make ’em both at the same time, and if we’re really fortunate, we also get to make a living doing it,” he said, reflecting on his career. “I’m indeed a lucky guy. Lucky to have found my people, lucky to have work that challenges me, lucky to still be doing it. And I don’t take that for granted.”
He then turned his attention to his wife and family, offering a direct message of gratitude.
Directly addressing his wife, Ford said. “I want to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to my extraordinary, beautiful wife, Calista,” he said. “And my family, who have given me love and courage through all of it.”
Before taking the stage, Ford also shared what he considers a key part of making their relationship work during a red carpet interview.
“I don’t tell my wife what to do,” he told E! News.
It’s a mindset he carries beyond their home life, too. When asked whether Flockhart might ever appear on his Apple TV series Shrinking, he emphasized that it would be her decision.
It’s a rule he applies to both home and work life. Asked whether his wife would make a future appearance on his Apple TV show Shrinking, he said, “That would be up to her.”
For the ceremony, the couple coordinated in black-and-white looks. They tied the knot in 2010, after first meeting at the Golden Globes in 2002.
In a 2024 interview with The Times, Flockhart looked back on their first encounter and explained that she didn’t arrive starstruck in the way some might expect.
During an interview with The Times in 2024, Flockhart recalled the moment the pair first laid eyes on each other, revealing, “I had never seen Star Wars, which I know sounds really crazy. But I grew up in a small town without a movie theatre.
“I was aware of who Harrison Ford was! But I didn’t think, ‘Oh, this is Indiana Jones.’ It was more along the lines of, ‘This is some lascivious old man, and what is he doing at our table?”
Even after decades together, the pair still speak warmly about their relationship. Ford previously joked on the Wild Card with Rachel Martin podcast that love doesn’t fade with age, and that staying in love takes steady care.
“Old people can love, too,” he said. “You know, you think about falling in love and all of that business. You think it’s the business of youth or something, you know, and staying in love is the issue. Maintaining, nurturing, basically, not [expletive] up.”