Ted Danson recalls Clinton grilling him over Mary Steenburgen at White House

Ted Danson’s early romance with Mary Steenburgen included a high-stakes moment at the White House.

Danson, 78, recalled an intense one-on-one with then-President Bill Clinton that centered around the actor’s “intentions” with Steenburgen — a close, personal friend of the Clintons.

“One of the first things she did was take me to meet her dear friends in the White House,” Danson recalled while moderating a History Talks panel alongside Bill and Hillary Clinton, according to Variety. “Bill — Mr. President — took me around the corner, and there were three Secret Service agents behind him, all of them looking at me. The president asked me what my intentions were.”

“My first question is to you, Mr. President: Do you think that was fair?” the “Cheers” star quipped.

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Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Ted Danson recalled meeting in the early days of the actor’s relationship with Mary Steenburgen. (Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is honored with an award by Mary Steenburgen on June 19, 2014. (Angela Weiss/Getty Images)

“No, but it was effective,” Clinton replied. “And I didn’t think I had to be fair. As it turned out, you became the best thing that ever happened to her.”

The couple met in 1993 while on the set of the movie “Pontiac Moon” and quickly became one of Hollywood’s most-loved couples. They got married in October 1995 in a ceremony on Martha’s Vineyard.

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Ted Danson and his wife Mary Steenburgen spoke to the crowd before Hillary Clinton arrived at a campaign stop on May 3, 2008. (Joey Foley/FilmMagic)

When speaking about their relationship to People in February 2021, Danson explained he knew he had to propose to her because he “couldn’t imagine not being with her at all times.”

“Not to sound corny, but I would sign up for 100 more lifetimes,” Steenburgen told the outlet. “He makes me a better person. He’s a truly beautiful human being. A great big soul. I love how he sees the world and how he cares about people, and he’s deeply hilarious, which is super, super sexy to me, and he smells really nice.”

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Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen married in 1995. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

After years of leading successful careers, Danson and Steenburgen got the opportunity to work together on Netflix’s “Man on the Inside.” Steenburgen joined the cast for season 2 of the comedy as the love interest for Danson’s character.

Steenburgen told People in November 2025 when she found out she had landed the role, “there was a lot of screaming and jumping up and down … because we were so excited to work together.”

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Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen both star in Netflix’s “A Man on the Inside.” (Michael Buckner/GG2025/Penske Media via Getty Images)

“We’re both actors,” Danson told the outlet. “We were trained the same way. We had some really good material to work with. We’d get up every morning giggling about what we get to do.”

Fox News Digital’s Lori Bashian contributed to this report.