Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick are one of Hollywood’s longest-married couples. In the over three decades that they have been married, they have raised two beautiful kids who followed their Hollywood footsteps.
Years after the “Footloose” actor and “The Closer” actress were married, they found out they were distant cousins after conducting a DNA test.
Even though they found the test results a little bit unsettling, the bond between Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick has grown stronger with time.
Kevin Bacon, born July 8, 1958, and Kyra Sedgwick, born August 19, 1965, first crossed paths when he was in a play in the 1970s. At the time, Sedgwick was 12 and had just seen the matinee with her brother.
In 1987, they met again when they worked on the PBS film “Lemon Sky.” At that point, Sedgwick strongly believed Bacon wasn’t her type.
She saw him as aloof and cocky when he jumped into the van they were getting picked up in after his labrador. Sedgwick also thought Bacon thought of himself as being cool.
She recalled in an interview that as she watched his backside while he was walking away, she was surprised some girls liked that. Little did Sedgwick know that would be one of her favorite parts of Bacon’s anatomy.
While Sedgwick thought Bacon was aloof, he thought she was aloof but beautiful. He was immediately in love with her while she was immediately put off by him.
The “Labor Pains” actress later realized Bacon was a sweet guy, and the couple married on September 4, 1988. At the time, she was 23, and Bacon was 30.
Sedgwick never believed she would get married so early. She had started working professionally at 16 and wanted to be a great actor, and settling down with a child at 23 was not part of her goals.
In their early years, Bacon described himself as a slob who lived in a pigsty when he first left home. He also described his first apartment as being a roach-filled disaster. However, when they first got together, Sedgwick was messier than Bacon.
Together, they have been able to keep the chaos out of their home as they celebrate their little wins and moments together, just like their first ‘selfie.’
Bacon took to Instagram to share the first picture they took together as they posed in beachwear. Sedgwick donned a high-cut black swimsuit while Bacon wore a pair of beach shorts with his arm draped around her.
The couple looked adorable and in love. In the caption, Bacon reminded the younger ones that cameras and phones were two different things in the old days!
A few months into their relationship, Bacon proposed to Sedgwick during the Christmas holidays. He put the ring he bought in the toe of the stocking, popped the question, and she said, “yes.”
Decades after they had gotten married, the couple revealed that their marriage hasn’t always been rainbows and sunshine as they once had what they call their biggest fight.
Sedgwick had wanted to move back to Manhattan while Bacon wanted to stay in Connecticut. The fight lasted a long time, but the couple has learned not to ‘hit below the belt.’
They both are not built that way and have realized over time that they both don’t want to fight. They have learned to talk about things and decide together what’s best for them.
And sometimes, what’s best for them might mean one person making sacrifices that benefit the family. They know when it’s their turn to step up.
As they started having kids, Sedgwick knew she had to be there for her kids and decided to step back from her career. She worked a lot less and stayed in New York because they wanted to raise the kids in New York, even though more work was in Los Angeles.
Years ago, the couple agreed to participate in PBS’s “Finding Your Roots,” a television show investigating family ancestry, and Bacon was shocked at the discoveries made.
Bacon’s family was traced back to Bristol, and he learned that King Edward I, the “Hammer of the Scots” who fought William Wallace, was his 22nd great-grandfather.
It was also revealed that Bacon is the 13th cousin twice removed with Brad Pitt. He and President Obama, who share a common ancestor named Anthony Woolhouse, are 12th cousins, three times removed.
That was not all, as Sedgwick was also introduced to her 9th cousin once removed. This cousin happened to be her husband. Sedgwick exclaimed that ‘she knew it,’ but Bacon wasn’t so thrilled.
Even though Bacon joked that he wasn’t getting enough respect based on the people he’s connected to, he didn’t see being cousins with his wife as a form of flattery. He said,
“I kind of felt like it was a joke at my expense, you know.”
Sedgwick admitted that the revelation was “a little unsettling,” but she was fine with it as long as they are not first cousins.
With their marriage being one of the longest in Hollywood, Sedgwick always has people asking her the key to her successful and long marriage.
Although she jokes that the secret to a successful marriage lies in not taking marriage advice from celebrities, she believes that she and Bacon got lucky.
However, she has one piece of advice, and her advice was that people need to have a piece of wholeness within themselves before they can let somebody love them the way they need to be loved.
On their wedding anniversary in 2021, Bacon took to his Instagram to share a picture of him dancing with his wife. In the caption, he cheered to dancing through life with Sedgwick as he reminded her that she’s the reason.
Bacon and Sedgwick are proud to have two independent children. Travis, their first son, was born on June 23, 1989, studied audio engineering, and made his acting debut in 2005 in “Loverboy.”
With his interest in music, he became a member of the metal band White Widows Pact until 2015 before joining the metal band Black Anvil in 2016 as a guitarist.
Travis works as a solo musician, produced songs for his parents’ movie “Story of a Girl” in 2017, and has composed music for other movies while owning a recording company in New York.
Their daughter, Sosie, who loves to sing, was born on March 15, 1992, studied acting and musical theater and made her acting debut in 2005’s “Loverboy” and has since appeared in tons of films and TV shows.
On being a mother, Sedgwick revealed that she’s not an overbearing mother like she was in her role in “Call Your Mother.” She tried not to meddle and wait for her children to ask her opinion.