Actor Tyler Hilton is grateful for a piece of advice he learned from Robert Downey Jr. and his wife, Susan Downey, on the secret to a healthy marriage. In October the One Tree Hill actor, 41, shared an intimate 10-year anniversary with his wife, Megan Park. Hilton credits a part of their long relationship, which can be tough to maintain since he’s an actor and his wife is an actress and director, to something Robert Downey Jr. shared with him while they were on the set of the 2007 film “Charlie Bartlett.”
Downey couple shares their two-week rule for marriage
“We met on this movie called Charlie Bartlett with Robert Downey,” Hilton explained to People, “and he and his wife are the ones that told us, ‘If you guys want to make this work, never go more than two or three weeks without seeing each other.”
Given Hilton and Park’s busy schedules, it can be difficult to adhere to this rule, but the actor says that it’s worth the effort. “We’ve always tried to go no more than three weeks without seeing each other and that’s helped a lot with work and stuff. We’ve been together a long time and it’s always been a lot of travel.”
Susan Downey, who has been married to Robert Downey Jr. for two decades, has elaborated in the past on how the couple incorporate this two-week rule into their married life.
“We do have a two-week rule, which often feels too long,” she said to the outlet in 2024, “but we don’t go more than two weeks without seeing each other and the family being together.”
Given that the Marvel actor frequently has to fly to distant locations, the pair does give themselves some leeway when it comes to the rule. Susan explains, “You keep the basic rule of two weeks, and then you don’t try and think too far ahead, because so much of what we do is oddly unpredictable.”
As a producer, Susan is aware that she has more flexibility to work with her husband’s schedule as far as her location is concerned, so she has “empathy” for couples who are both actors and entertainers. “I really admire and have a lot of empathy for couples who both have to be in front of the camera,” she said, “because you get stuck and you have to make those choices.”
