The leading characters of NBC’s new sitcom, “Newlyweds,” elope after a brief but passionate love affair. But its stars, real-life couple Tim Daly and Téa Leoni, enjoyed a much longer engagement before
making things official.
The whirlwind courtship of free-spirited mom of two, Jeanie (Leoni), and more routine professor James (Daly) is inspired in part by the start of co-creator and executive producer Jamie Lee Curtis’ relationship with filmmaker Christopher Guest. Curtis is also a guest star on the series (Fridays, 8:30 p.m. ET/PT and streaming Saturdays on Peacock), portraying James’ outrageous and boundaryless ex-wife, Claudia.
“It reminded me of the fact that I married my husband, who was a virtual stranger, having never spent more than 72 hours together at one time before we married,” Curtis, 67, tells USA TODAY in an interview with Leoni and Daly. “And I married a stranger, and then look what happened.”
The Academy Award winner first spotted Guest in a 1984 issue of Rolling Stone and told a friend she’d marry the “This Is Spinal Tap” star. They had their first date on July 2, 1984, and on Dec. 18, 1984, the bride said, “I do” in lace.
Leoni, 60, had a similar premonition after seeing Daly in “Diner” in 1982. The 16-year-old, who attended Vermont’s The Putney School, like Daly, was “herded onto a bus to go into town to see an alum of the school starring in this movie,” she remembers. “I came back to my roommate and I said, ‘I'm going to marry that guy,’ and then forgot about it for 40 years.”
During that time, Leoni married director Neil Tardio Jr. (1991–1995) then actor David Duchovny (1997–2014), with whom she shares two children, Madelaine, 27, and Kyd, 24. Daly and actress Amy Van Nostrand welcomed Sam, 42, and Emelyn, 37, during their union (1982–2010).
Daly, 70, fell for Leoni after mere minutes on the set of CBS’ political drama “Madam Secretary” (2014–2019), in which he played Henry, husband to Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord (Leoni).
“Tim had asked me to marry him about a decade ago, and I said, ‘In a minute,’” Leoni says. “And then 10 years later, I asked him, like, 'You still want to do that thing?'"
For better or worse, with one caveat, Daly says.
"We vowed to each other that if being married ruined our relationship, we were going to get divorced in a hot minute and go back,” he says. “Because it was really good.”
“It was perfect,” Leoni says. “We didn’t get married because it was great, and I was so afraid that maybe that would change it.”
Leoni’s change of heart led to vows exchanged in an intimate ceremony on July 12, 2025.
“I think in some ways it was [that] I was clocking real close to 60, and something occurred to me that there was, in fact, so much less ahead than behind,” Leoni explains. “And that frightened me a little bit. I think I felt like, ‘Am I being a coward?’ Because I'm not going to go out a coward. And I really wanted to say to the world, but mostly also to my family, this is who I choose. This is who I'll go out with.”
“I think also, and this is in the [‘Newlyweds’] pilot really, there's a point in your life where you look at your watch, it says quarter till dead, and you go, 'What am I waiting for?'" Daly adds. "For some magical moment where everything is perfect? It's like, no, that's never going to come. Let's dive into life and embrace it for whatever it has to offer. So off we went on this adventure, like the adventure we're taking now with this show. It's a happy leap into the unknown.”
Marriage has made their relationship "even better," Daly says.
Jamie Lee Curtis, who also guest- stars." id="92328204007">
Likewise, age motivated Curtis to make a bold career move.
“The truth of the matter is, the reason we're here is because at 60, exactly at that same point, I woke up and thought, 'If not now, when? If not me, who?'" she says. "More of my life is behind me than in front of me, and if I don't get this stuff out of my head… and I don't do them, who's going to do them? And I literally formed a company that day [Comet Pictures founded in 2019], made a logo, and started this process, and now all of a sudden, I'm producing movies and television shows and this show."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The vow Téa Leoni, Tim Daly made in case 'being married ruined our relationship'
