Steven Van Zandt Shares the Unexpected Secret to 41-Year Marriage

E Street Band guitarist and Sopranos star Steven Van Zandt has revealed the secret behind the success of his 41-year marriage to Maureen Van Zandt, née Santoro.

Van Zandt, 73, and Maureen, 72, married on December 31, 1982 in a ceremony officiated by Little Richard. Bruce Springsteen served as Van Zandt’s best man. The couple’s relationship is on display in the new documentary, Steven Van Zandt: Disciple, which is currently streaming on Max.

But despite many decades together, Van Zandt says his busy touring schedule continues to keep things fresh between the two.

"As I often say, the key to staying together is stay apart,” Van Zandt told People of his enduring marriage. “We've been together, God, what is it now, 40-plus years and probably have spent about 10 years of that together out of the 40, because I'm always on the road. So, you go home, and it's always new again."

While Van Zandt is on tour, his wife stays busy with her various career pursuits.

"I think there is something to keeping one's own identity. She's a very, very strong person,” Van Zandt said. “She has a theater company. She's the real actor in the family. She's the real thing. Aside from her literary knowledge, she teaches acting to American Ballet Theater. She was a ballet dancer," he explained.

Despite keeping a healthy marital distance, the couple has worked together on a number of occasions. Maureen starred in 28 episodes of The Sopranos alongside Van Zandt, playing the wife of his character, Silvio Dante.

"I think finding a way to keep one's identity,” Van Zandt continued, adding that he and Maureen have no desire to be in a relationship “where people just start to lose their identity and compromise it in order to get along."

Bill Teck, who directed Disciple, found the couple’s love story “inspiring.”

"I just wanted to reflect their love, Teck explained. “It's inspiring to me as a man and as a person in a relationship, as a human being, I should say, and as a person in a relationship, the commitment and the love and how present those two are for each other, how protective they are of each other.”

Van Zandt believes marriage is all about “coming together and finding the common ground.” As for himself and Maureen, “We have both,” he says. “That's the key.

Steven Van Zandt: Disciple is currently streaming on Max. You can check out the trailer below.