William Daniels and Bonnie Bartlett Once Had an Open Marriage, Sort of

William Daniels and Bonnie Bartlett might seem like the most wholesome couple in Hollywood history. In a lot of ways, they are. Daniels, best known for playing Mr. Feeny on Boy Meets World, and Bartlett have a love story that spans over seven decades and produced two remarkable careers, two children, and what appears to be a deep appreciation for each other. While their love story is truly special, it is not without its complications. In 2023, Bartlett wrote about having an “open marriage” for many years. Since then, media outlets have run with the story. Now, Bartlett is addressing what she really meant and how she and William Daniels worked through the hard parts of their union to get to where they are today.

Did William Daniels and Bonnie Bartlett have an open marriage?

In 2023, Bonnie Bartlett penned a memoir about her life in Hollywood and her marriage to William Daniels, whom she calls Bill. In the book, she mentioned that their marriage hadn’t always been easy, describing a dynamic that many readers interpreted as an open marriage. That’s not entirely what happened, though.

In a recent interview with the Daily Mail, Bartlett explained that while she and Daniels both had extramarital affairs, their marriage wasn’t an “open” one in the conventional sense. She told the outlet that they didn’t set down rules or boundaries; she even referred to their extramarital activities as transgressions. In short, the couple didn’t have an open marriage so much as they were willing to look the other way when it came to cheating. Then, in the 1970s, everything changed. Bartlett revealed that Daniels’ clandestine relationship with a producer left her feeling “devastated.” That relationship changed the way she viewed fidelity and her arrangement with Daniels. She was no longer willing to tolerate the unspoken agreement.

A move to Los Angeles saved their love

Bonnie Bartlett and William Daniels’ marriage was not perfect; Bartlett admits to that. Still, she insists their problems were not different from those faced by other couples in their social circle. Bartlett contends that the dynamic of her marriage played out across relationships in New York City in that era, and that open arrangements were more culturally accepted in the 1950s and 1960s than they are today.

Still, by the 1970s, the couple needed something different, and they got it. Bartlett and Daniels packed up and moved to Los Angeles. She told Fox News Digital that life in California saved their union, creating a more structured family life where they came together on the weekends to raise their family, noting that by that point, neither one wanted anything more.

Seventy-five years into their marriage, they seem to have finally figured it out. At 96 and 99 years old, respectively, Bartlett and Daniels are proof that love, in whatever form it takes, can endure.