"The Waltons" star Michael Learned has confessedshe and her TV husband Ralph Waite were deeply in love — on screen and off!
But they realized if they turned that love into a full-blown affair, it could have wrecked the long-running show that was an icon of American family life.
"We had a deep love for each other that we would have ruined if we had taken it the extra step," she told the U.K.'s Daily Mail in an exclusive interview on the fifth anniversary of Waite's death.
She said there was "instant chemistry" between them when the show began filming, and they did see each other off screen. She was drinking heavily at the time after going through a rough divorce.
The recovering alcoholic, 79, says Waite "saved her life" when her drinking got out of control and he became her "spiritual husband."
"We're both very flawed human beings, but I loved him dearly and he loved me."