Jaclyn Smith and Brad Allen have been together for more than three decades, but for roughly half of that time, coming home did not mean coming home to each other.
The Charlie’s Angels star revealed that she and the cardiothoracic surgeon spent 17 years living in different states. Allen worked in Chicago while Smith remained in Los Angeles with her two children, leaving the couple to build much of their relationship around weekends and flights.
“When you have only a weekend, you really make it count,” Smith told PEOPLE. Allen handled most of the commuting because Smith did not want to uproot her children from the city where their father lived.
The arrangement continued even after Smith and Allen married in 1997. They did not finally close the distance until 2009, and Smith says having him beside her every day now feels like “bliss.”
Allen Spent 17 Years Working in Chicago
Smith first met Allen in 1991 under circumstances that had nothing to do with Hollywood. He helped perform heart surgery on her father, Jack, at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center.
About two years after they met, Allen took a job in Chicago. Smith’s life remained based in Los Angeles, where she was raising son Gaston and daughter Spencer-Margaret with their father, cinematographer Anthony B. Richmond, still part of their lives.
Moving the children across the country was not something Smith wanted to do simply to make her romantic relationship easier. Instead, she and Allen divided the travel between them, with Allen making most of the trips west.
Smith said the limited time together changed how they treated those visits. A weekend was not something to waste when it represented most of the time they would have together before another separation.
“I could go there, he could come here,” she told PEOPLE. “He did most of the commuting, because I had two kids, and I couldn’t move them from their dad. We made it work.”
They Married in 1997 While They Were Still Living Apart
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Distance did not stop the couple from getting married.
Smith and Allen wed in Los Angeles on Oct. 11, 1997. Her daughter Spencer served as maid of honor, while Gaston gave his mother away. Smith had already been married three times, but before the wedding she said she wanted this marriage to last.
The long-distance arrangement continued for more than a decade after the ceremony. It also meant Allen was commuting between states during some of the most difficult periods of Smith’s life.
When Smith was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, Allen helped guide her through treatment. She underwent a lumpectomy followed by radiation and is now cancer-free. The experience became another major chapter in the marriage before the couple were able to share one home permanently.
By their 25th wedding anniversary in 2022, Smith described Allen as her best friend and partner in life in an Instagram tribute, crediting him with keeping her laughing and taking care of their family.
Living Together Finally Became Their Normal in 2009
The commuting ended in 2009.
After years of arranging their marriage around different cities, Smith and Allen finally began living together full time. The contrast apparently has not worn off.
“Now that we’re together it’s just like bliss, because we did [long distance] for so long,” Smith told PEOPLE.
She said she now struggles to imagine not having Allen there every day, describing shared life as easier and better than the arrangement they maintained for years.
The couple currently live together in Beverly Hills, according to the publisher of Smith’s new memoir, I Once Knew a Guy Named Charlie.
They Say Shared Values Matter More Than Being Alike
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Smith and Allen do not credit nearly three decades of marriage to having identical personalities.
In a 2025 Instagram Q&A, Smith described them as opposites. The important overlap, she said, is in their morals and values.
Allen offered a less serious version of his own marriage advice: a husband needs to know how to say “I’m sorry” and admit when his wife is right.
Smith added affection to the list, joking that Allen hugs and kisses her throughout the day. She later emphasized laughter in the video’s caption and agreed with a follower who called it one of the keys to their relationship.
The couple shared that advice together in an Instagram video, more than three decades after they first met and years after the weekly flights finally stopped.
Smith Says She ‘Finally Got It Right’ With Allen
The stability Smith found with Allen followed three marriages that ended very differently.
She was married to actors Roger Davis and Dennis Cole before marrying Richmond in 1981. Smith has recently spoken more openly about infidelity in her first two marriages, while her marriage to Richmond ultimately ended amid his struggles with alcohol and drugs.
Smith does not dismiss everything that came before Allen. She has spoken warmly about the years she shared with Richmond and remains grateful that their marriage gave her Gaston and Spencer. She also said she respects the progress Richmond later made in overcoming his addiction.
But when discussing Allen, Smith is much less complicated about where she landed.
“I got a great husband, great marriage, and the most fantastic stepfather I could ever dream of,” she told PEOPLE.
For a couple that once measured their time together in weekends, being in the same house every day apparently still feels like something worth appreciating.