"I depend on Lisa," Swayze has said (in San Francisco in '05). "We have been partners
for a long time." Photo by: Courtesy Patrick and Lisa Swayze |
In the years since, the couple – who wed in 1975 and settled in 1985 on a five-acre homestead tucked up against the Angeles National Forest – have built a rich, adventure-filled life together that encompasses their many shared passions. "They do everything together," says Don. "They copilot their plane. They ran a construction business together. They raise horses together." And of course, they continue to nurture their mutual first love, dancing. Recalls Neeson, who met Swayze when they appeared together in 1989's
Next of Kin: "A few times he and Lisa would be chatting about his early Broadway days when he was a dancer, and he'd suddenly start dancing – it was just like a piece of poetry. They'd just get up, and the two of them would dance. It was very beautiful, very moving." The secret to their thriving relationship – in Hollywood, no less – is "we're a team," Swayze said last year. "A relationship survives because of keeping the friendship alive and learning how to fall in love over and over again and never taking the other person for granted and seeing things in a new light with new eyes. We're big believers in, arguments are okay as long as it's not about your ego, but it's about a mutual goal – trying to create something special."
Still, the pair have weathered their share of challenges prior to Swayze's diagnosis: In 1994 his younger sister Vicky died at age 45 after a long battle with depression. (He also has a brother Sean, 45, and sister Bambi, 42.) And he has talked openly about battling a drinking problem and undergoing rehab. "I played with trying to deal with fame and got stupid and drank too much at one point," he told People. "You have to understand . . . I've had rodeo and horses and cattle all my life, but I've also had theater and success and ambition in my life. So trying to find that blend between what it is to be a human being and what it is to live through fame, for a while, was hard to figure out."
