Humor remained part of the relationship Cheryl and Brian built together.
Looking back on their marriage decades later, Cheryl said friendship had always been its foundation.
“We started out as friends, we still are and that is the thread that’s really bonded us.”
By 2022, that sentiment hadn’t changed.
“We’re still madly in love with each other, but we’re also still friends.”
The couple also learned to respect each other’s independence. Both pursued creative interests while understanding when the other needed time and space.
“We both do what we love, and we understand each other’s need for space and time.”
Cheryl’s relationship with her daughter Jordan evolved as well. Jordan eventually followed her parents into acting, something Cheryl embraced rather than discouraged. She believed her daughter understood Hollywood far better than Cheryl had when she first arrived in California from South Dakota.
Mother and daughter eventually became extremely close and even worked together, including on the Lifetime Christmas movie The Christmas Contract. Cheryl described their adult relationship as a genuine friendship filled with conversations and laughter.
The balance Cheryl eventually found was dramatically different from her early years on Charlie’s Angels. At only 26, she was attempting to navigate sudden fame while simultaneously being a wife and mother.
The demanding production schedule often meant 14-hour workdays, contributing to the pressures surrounding her first marriage. After marrying Brian, Cheryl began consciously creating more room for family life.
“I find a lot more time to be a mother and a wife. Now we take time for ourselves, time for our lives. The balance is better than it has ever been.”
Her career nevertheless continued for decades. More recently, Cheryl appeared in projects including Christmas Unwrapped, A Cowgirl’s Song, and A Christmas for the Ages.
But one of the most difficult chapters of Cheryl and Brian’s marriage arrived far away from a movie set.
In April 2026, Cheryl publicly discussed her experience with breast cancer, describing the diagnosis as “humbling.”
According to Cheryl, she had discovered a lump in her left breast, and Brian immediately insisted that she seek medical attention. She recalled that he practically “threw” her into the car to make sure she went to the doctor.
A biopsy confirmed an aggressive form of breast cancer, and treatment began quickly, including medication and radiation.
Once again, the partnership they had spent decades building became essential.
When Cheryl struggled to eat during treatment, Brian prepared simple foods, including tomato soup, and encouraged her to maintain her strength.
“He literally babied me along and kept me eating so I didn’t just get skinnier and skinnier and skinnier.”
Cheryl later summed up her gratitude toward the man who had remained beside her through the ordeal with a simple observation:
“I’m telling you, I sure married the right guy.”
Their daughters also supported Cheryl throughout her treatment, visiting and, according to Cheryl, “praying for me like crazy.”
After becoming cancer-free, Cheryl began encouraging other women to pay attention to changes in their bodies and seek medical advice rather than dismissing something unusual.
“If you find a little something in your breasts… do not ignore it.”
Her Christian faith has also remained an important source of comfort throughout difficult periods.
“I really turn a lot of myself and my soul and my pain over to the Lord.”
For Cheryl, believing she isn’t facing life’s challenges alone has provided strength during moments when circumstances were beyond her control.
More than four decades after a controversial beginning that placed Cheryl and Brian under an unforgiving public spotlight, their marriage became something far different from what critics might once have predicted.
They raised a blended family, built careers, became grandparents, survived difficult seasons and remained friends throughout it all.
Cheryl’s journey from a young actress overwhelmed by the demands of Charlie’s Angels to a wife, mother, grandmother and longtime Hollywood performer reflects a life that hasn’t been free from hardship.
But through career changes, family struggles and a frightening health battle, the relationship that once attracted criticism became one of the most enduring parts of her story.
As Cheryl herself once put it:
“I’m so lucky that we found each other.”