Hollywood stars Courtney B. Vance and Angela Bassett have been married for nearly 30 years, and the pair are still going strong.
During the May 17 premiere of Lilo & Stitch at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, Vance, 65, in an interview with PEOPLE touched on his marriage to Bassett, 66, saying that he always prioritizes his wife’s happiness.
“It’s really about when my wife is happy, the land is happy,” Vance said. “So I just try to [go], ‘Does this work for you, baby?’ It doesn’t work … we’re not doing that.”
“And I think it’s the mutual respect,” he also stated before saying that when it comes to making important decisions, it is prudent for each partner to genuinely voice out their thoughts and opinions.
“You gotta talk about [it] and figure out which way … [you] want to go,” Vance explained.
Vance and Bassett were graduate students at Yale’s drama school in the 1980s when they initially established contact, per PEOPLE. They later became romantically involved after they met in New York City in 1994.
The couple tied the knot in 1997, and they share 19-year-old twins. “They’ve finished their freshman year,” Vance said about their children.
“They’re exploring, as they should,” he said. “But both of them are doing some film work. And my daughter may major in film with sociology. And my son’s doing a lot of different things … doing plays, doing films, doing camera work,” he continued.
“I just want them to be happy, as does my wife. If it’s in the business, [if] it’s not — just find something that makes you get up in the morning.”
When he was asked if their children regard them as “cool” parents, Vance said it depends on the time. “[We’re usually] just parents,” he stated. “But when we’re on the [red] carpet, we are very cool. So yes, we go in and out of being cool, which is cool.”
