97-Year-Old Dick Van Dyke Says Wife, 51, Keeps Him Feeling Young

Dick Van Dyke, who is 51 years old, says that his wife who is half his age at 41, keeps him feeling young. “Having a beautiful young wife half my age to take care of me — that works,” he says.

He married makeup artist Arlene Silver in 2012 after first meeting in 2006 and being friends for years. “My positive attitude, I get that from my wife,” he adds, in a recent phone interview with Yahoo! Entertainment.

Dick Van Dyke loves his wife who’s half his age, keeps him young

On top of just “feeling” young, he also still goes to the gym three times a week. “I advise everybody to do that, because that’s what ages people — it’s just a stiffening up and not exercising their muscles and their lungs,” he said. “Exercise is the answer.”

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He proved his youthfulness more recently when he was unmasked on The Masked Singer as one of the contestants, prompting a frenzy of reactions, including sending panelist Nicole Scherzinger into tears. He beat out 91-year-old William Shatner as the oldest celebrity to be on the show. He did admit that he almost “fell down” when he was on the show, saying, “It’s dark in there,” about the costume.

Dick gushed about his wife just last year as well in an interview with Closer. He said, “She can go with the flow. She loves to sing and dance, which we do almost every day. She’s just delightful.” He admitted that he worried people would call her a “gold digger” marrying an “old man,” but “no one ever took that attitude.”

Silver also gushed about her husband, saying, he is “the most perfect human being. I’ve never met anyone so happy, so genuine, so amazing. He’s just like a happy pill.”