Terry Crews, the actor and host known for his roles on America's Got Talent and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, has opened up about the philosophy that has sustained his 36-year marriage to Rebecca King-Crews. He frames love not as an innate talent but as a skill requiring daily effort.
"Love is a skill, something you have to work at every day," Crews explained in a recent interview. "It's something a lot of people feel is automatic—you either have it or you don't. But no, you can get better and better at it, and we did."
This perspective was forged during a critical juncture in their relationship. After two decades of marriage, the couple faced a potential breakup. "We were two different people, and we were about to break up, which was crazy," Crews recalled. It took nearly five years of therapy and counseling to navigate their individual changes. Today, his approach is one of daily curiosity: "I wake up, like, 'Who are you? What do you need today? What can I do to help you be the best you?'"
Their partnership has taken on profound new dimensions as Rebecca has privately battled Parkinson's disease for over a decade. Following a newly approved medical procedure, she shared a significant milestone: "I’m able to write with my right hand for the first time in probably three years." She also noted regaining the ability to perform a ballet movement, a port de bras, while balancing on her right leg.
Terry described the emotional impact of her journey. "To watch her go through what she's gone through over the last 10 to 12 years has been very, very hard," he said, becoming visibly emotional. "The tremors, the not sleeping, the loss of balance... to watch her write her name for the first time in three years? Let me tell you, man. I don't know what to say."
He credits Rebecca as "the rock" of their family and a "superhero" for her resilience. She chose to share her diagnosis now, he explained, to help others access emerging technologies. "She said, 'Now's the time to tell so you can help someone else take advantage of the technology that's out here right now.'"
The foundation of their enduring bond was tested earlier in their marriage. In his 2014 memoir Manhood, Crews revealed he came perilously close to losing his wife after confessing to a past infidelity and a long-hidden pornography addiction. Rebecca's initial devastation gave way to forgiveness and a commitment to rebuild.
"It wasn't until I came clean that I realized what marriage really is," Crews wrote. "Until your relationship gets to the point where you can tell that other person everything about who you are, everything about what you've done... it can never reach a level of real, true intimacy."
Reflecting on that forgiveness, he later noted, "When someone knows you from good all the way to the rottenest, dirtiest part of you, and loves you anyway, that's the rarity, that's where you want to be."
Rebecca, in their 2021 audio memoir Stronger Together, described witnessing her husband's transformation through that process. "I have the softer, gentler, kinder Terry now," she said. "I'm thankful because our story could have gone another way, had he not decided that we were worth fighting for." She emphasized that forgiveness in their case was a conscious choice for a "new marriage," not an endorsement of overlooking serious wrongdoing.
Their story began in 1987 when Terry, then a 19-year-old college student, first saw Rebecca playing keyboard at a church service. He was captivated by the "mysterious woman with the little blond baby"—Rebecca's then six-month-old daughter, Naomi, whom Terry later adopted. After a persistent courtship, they married in 1989 and went on to have four more children together.
Now grandparents, the couple's journey—from near-collapse to renewed strength, and now facing a chronic illness together—embodies Crews' core belief: that a lasting love is built not on perfection, but on the daily, deliberate choice to understand, support, and fight for one another.