Dustin Hoffman’s Story Proves That the Universe Is Conspiring to Help You Meet Your True Love

Some people think that destiny is something that is previously marked in life, others think that it’s something you build through hard work. Whatever the case may be, the acclaimed actor Dustin Hoffman went from living below the poverty line until he was 31 years old to being one of the most acclaimed actors in the Hollywood film industry. But this is not the only time that exceptional luck changed his life.

Regardless of fate, life events are also based on hard work and patience, and at Bright Side, we discovered that behind the actor’s happy marriage to his wife, there is a story worth telling.

Dustin Hoffman has been recognized as one of the greatest actors of all time, it was said in his tribute at the Kennedy Center Honors, that he is “one of the most versatile and iconoclastic actors of this or any other generation.” However, Hoffman has also been very successful in other areas, such as in his personal life, and fate has smiled on him with a happy 41-year marriage to businesswoman Lisa Hoffman.

Dustin and his wife, Lisa Hoffman, are approaching their 42nd wedding anniversary, but apparently they’ve known each other almost their entire lives. Dustin’s mom was friends with Lisa’s grandmother in Los Angeles, California, where they both grew up.

However, they met for the first time at a family reunion. At the time, the actor was 27 years old and Lisa was 10, when, according to Lisa herself, she knew at that moment that she wanted to marry him: “Dustin told us jokes, played the piano, and encouraged me to dance around the living room. After we got together, my grandmother reminded me that later that day that I had told her, ’I hope he waits for me because I want to marry him.’”

In addition to this, Mrs. Hoffman shared a fun fact: before she was born, her husband was training to be a classical pianist, and at the age of 16 he even played at her parents’ wedding. They often say jokingly that she loved him, even before she was born because she heard him play in her mother’s womb.

Dustin went to New York to begin his studies in theater, but returned every year to Los Angeles to visit his parents, and there, Lisa had a chance to see him. Although in 1969, Dustin married actress Anne Byrne, which lasted 11 years and in which his first daughter Jenna Byrne was born, and he also adopted Karina Hoffman, the daughter of Anne’s first marriage.

Lisa had to wait about 12 years until she was 22 and Dustin was 38. It was around a time when he was divorcing his first wife, Anne. Lisa’s grandfather had passed away, and Dustin came to pay his condolences — they hadn’t seen each other for a few years. Nevertheless, the attraction was instant.

On their first date, they confirmed they were getting married, “That first look, and I knew,” Lisa said. “Dustin asked how many children I wanted. I said 6, and he said he already had 2, so 4 would be fine. And that’s exactly how it played out.”

Lisa was studying law, and already had a degree in psychology. They married in 1980, the year in which Dustin won an Academy Award for the movie Kramer vs. Kramer. Lisa would graduate that next year, at the age of 25, giving birth a year later to the couple’s first son, Jake.

However, the new baby, Jake, was born a month premature, with lung complications, so Lisa devoted all her attention to her new role as a mother. Rebecca, Max, and Alexandra Hoffman would follow.

The Hoffman family then traveled the world, accompanying the actor as he worked on his films. Lisa remembers thinking, “Our values are traditional.” She also says, “It was important to Dustin that we were together as a family. For both of us, that was the whole point of being married.”

Despite work and social commitments, family always came first for the Hoffman couple, “Our priority was to be with the kids. Even if we had a social obligation later, we would have dinner with the kids first and go out later. We still all love being around the table together,” said Lisa.

Currently, Dustin’s wife is an entrepreneur in the cosmetics industry, thereby proving, as she told The Daily Telegraph in 2016, how crucial it is to develop her own identity outside of Hollywood. To her, about how long they’ve been together, she quipped, “I say in Hollywood, it’s like dog years, so you have to multiply that by 7.”

Considering the details of how the couple met and reunited, it’s like fate had them in partnership forever. “We’ve been together for almost 30 years and the scary part is that it seems like we’ve only been together for a week,” Dustin admitted in 2007. Currently, they have been together for more than 40 years, Lisa added that after being married for so long, she and her husband are too much in love and their affection for each other “keeps growing.”

What do you think makes a relationship stable and long-lasting?