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Life sure is sweet.
Mary Poppins icon Dick Van Dyke, 96, was in high spirits as he stepped out in a Spoonful of Sugar sweatshirt in Malibu, Calif. on Wednesday.
The decrepit actor was joined by his wife Arlene Silver, 50, as they went to lunch at a nearby gym after completing a fitness class.
The couple celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary in February by going viral with a romantic Valentine’s Day video – but still looked like smitten newlyweds as they laughed while strolling in the sun.
In addition to the sweatshirt that references his most famous film role, Van Dyke kept things casual for lunch, donning a pair of Adidas jogging pants, which he presumably wore for his workouts.
The ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ star is famous for staying fit and healthy despite her advancing age, and tells Closer Weekly that she still hits the gym three times a week.
“I’ve always been an athlete and I still am . . . I go to the pool and work out. At my age it’s important to keep moving. Put me on solid ground and I’ll start tapping,” he explained in a 2019 interview with the magazine.
Van Dyke revealed that he does aqua aerobics, lifts weights and walks on a treadmill. He also attributed his fit physique to “good genes.”
Meanwhile, the smitten star said the much younger Silver keeps him busy too.
“Sometimes I forget that we are doing a great experiment here – 46 years difference. And we’re working on that to some extent,” he explained. “There has to be some understanding, figuring out what old habits aren’t working anymore. It takes some adjustment and getting used to, but that’s part of the fun.”
Van Dyke first met Silver at the 2007 Screen Actors Guild Awards, when he was 81 and she was 35.
Speaking to Closer in a separate interview earlier this year, Silver recalled the moment she first saw her now-husband.
“He said, ‘Hi, I’m Dick.’ The first thing I asked him was, ‘Aren’t you in Mary Poppins?’ We hit it off as friends straight away, so it didn’t feel like he was that much older than me,” she told the publication.
The devoted wife continued to coo, “He is the most perfect human being. I’ve never met anyone so happy, so sincere, so amazing. He’s like a happy pill.”
The couple were friends for several years before their relationship turned romantic.
Van Dyke said he was relieved his fans were supportive of the relationship, adding, “I thought there would be an outcry for a gold miner to marry an old man, but nobody’s ever taken that stance.”
Back in February, the couple showed off their fun-loving relationship in a video posted in honor of Valentine’s Day.
The couple danced to a cover of the 1958 Doris Day song “Everybody Loves a Lover” performed by Silver’s band Arlene & the Vantastix.
Silver is Van Dyke’s second wife. The four-time Emmy winner split from his first wife and mother of his four children, Margie Willett, in 1984 after 36 years of marriage.
Van Dyke was also in a relationship with actress Michelle Triola for more than 30 years until her death in 2009.
