Inside Kevin Bacon And Kyra Sedgwick's Marriage
After multiple decades of marriage — in Hollywood, no less! — Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick know you are going to ask them to share their recipe for marital success. The award-winning actors, directors, and producers surely have a canned answer ready to go every time they sit down for an interview, right?
"That's a question that I've sort of come to a decision, uh, that I, uh, I'm not capable of answering," Bacon told The Guardian in 2017. "No, I am capable, but I don't want to, and I'll tell you why. Every time I go there, this thing that's so important to me gets boiled down to a one-liner, and that sort of cheapens it."
Throughout their many years together, though, Sedgwick and Bacon have shared glimpses into their enduring, Tinseltown-defying partnership. Here's what we know about Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick's union and just what their magical marital secret might be.
They fell in love on a movie set
Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick met while filming the 1988 TV movie "Lemon Sky," and according to Sedgwick, her husband pursued her right from the start.
"I wasn't really interested in hooking up, or whatever it is that the kids say these days," the Emmy-winning star of "The Closer" said on "Conan" in 2012. "He was very, you know, friendly and sweet, and every night after work, he would say, 'Who wants to go out to dinner?' And the whole cast would say yes except for me. Later on, he told me that the only person he wanted to say yes was me. And I never said yes, and he was always stuck with the check!"
Just a year later, in 1988, the two married — though not without a little bling drama before they made it to the altar. Kevin shared on "The Kelly Clarkson Show" in 2021 that despite his best shopping efforts, Sedgwick didn't love her engagement ring but didn't know how to tell him at first. "I talked her off the ledge," the "Footloose" star said of his teary fiancee. "I don't care! We'll take it back [I said]." Crisis averted, the newly wedded pair embarked on wedded life in the late '80s and welcomed their first child, son Travis Bacon, in 1989. Their daughter, Sosie Bacon, was born in 1992.
They are each other's biggest fan
Two successful actors living under one roof might naturally lead to some competitiveness and familial tensions, one would assume. Not in the Bacon-Sedgwick household. "Kyra and I believe in each other as actors, as directors, and as talent. She's never been anything other than supportive of me," Bacon told People in 2020. "She takes my successes as hers. I'm the same way."
And when those successes are the result of a joint effort, they're even sweeter. Sedgwick and Bacon have co-starred together in multiple films, including 1991's "Pyrates," 1995's "Murder in the First," and 2004's "Cavedweller." The 2005 film "Loverboy" was even more of a family affair. Bacon and Sedgwick co-starred, Bacon directed, and their kids plus Sedgwick's brother also appeared in the movie. And Bacon's brother, Michael, his partner in The Bacon Brothers band, scored the film.
In 2017, Sedgwick took a turn behind the camera, directing her husband in "Story of a Girl." She later directed him a second time in "Space Oddity." She talked about their career trajectories to Redbook in 2008. "I can remember struggling in my 30s, work-wise, and he said to me, 'We are workhorse actors, and we will always be workhorse actors,'" Sedgwick said. "It really resonated with me. I thought, 'Okay ... I'm not going to have that thing that's going to make me the 'star,' but I'm going to work consistently. And we both have."
They've navigated Hollywood and family life
For Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, being hands-on parents has been just as important as building their careers in Hollywood. When their kids were young, Sedgwick stepped back from work, and when she got the lead in the series "The Closer," Bacon took over the family responsibilities.
"In many cases, because of the kids, [Kyra] would make decisions careerwise that weren't the best for her career," Bacon told Glamour in 2019. "When 'The Closer' came along—I don't even look at this as a sacrifice—but the kids were still in high school or junior high, and she had this opportunity to go out to California and to be a lead in a TV show. ... In this case, this was the first time in our lives I said, 'I'll stay home. I won't take anything.' ... But for the most part, she's the one that did the sacrificing."
Bacon and Sedgwick also found through experience that both of them working at the same time wasn't great for their relationship. In the same Glamour interview with her husband, she said, "We learned as we went what works and what doesn't." She recalled a time when they "had almost two months apart" while he was filming in Africa and she was working on a movie in North America. "We were like, Okay, that doesn't work. Never again," she shared. "But we learned from that misstep."
Their kids have gotten into the family business
Acting is more than just a profession for Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon; it's a family business. Their kids, Travis and Sosie Bacon, have followed them into creative careers. Travis has acted but has focused more on his music career as part of the heavy metal band Contracult Collective. He's also done composing work, including on some of his parents' projects. Sosie has concentrated on acting, appearing in shows like "Mare of Easttown" and "13 Reasons Why."
Kevin and Sedgwick are proud parents, but apparently they weren't exactly thrilled about Sosie pursuing a career in Hollywood. "Kyra and I had always, inadvertently, given her the message that this was not a life we wanted her to have," the "Apollo 13" star told The Guardian in 2017. "It's uncertain, you're judged, it's a lifetime of rejection, and add to that being a woman, and there are even more challenges, all the physical stuff." Kevin, though, recognized that Sosie's got what it takes. He added, "If you're an actor, you have to be able to say, 'I'm going to do this, whatever you say.' So two very successful actors, her parents, were saying no, and she said, 'I'm doing it anyway,' and that's what you need to make it."
They lost money with Bernie Madoff
Over the course of their marriage, Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon have weathered both good times and bad times together. One of the tougher points of their personal lives played out publicly in 2009, when it was revealed that Bacon and Sedgwick were among the group of celebrities who were scammed out of a ton of money after investing with Ponzi scheme impresario Bernie Madoff. Though the exact dollar amount isn't known, it was reported by The Guardian that Sedgwick and Bacon lost "millions."
"It was a bad day," Bacon told the newspaper in 2017. "But pretty quickly, we were able to see all the things we had as opposed to whatever we lost, and those are the biggest cliches: children, health, love, a nice home. So we got through it together."
It's a sentiment Sedgwick has echoed as well, when talking about the marital philosophy she shares with her husband when it comes to conflict. "We always knew that we were each other's 'one,'" she said in Redbook in 2008. "Both of us knew this was forever, and we were going to work it out no matter what happens, so when we fight, it's not so scary. You can't be honest with someone if you think that they are going to leave."
Kevin Bacon encouraged Kyra Sedgwick to be a director
Kyra Sedgwick has been a successful working actor in Hollywood for decades. As she's gotten older, she's added "director" to her list of creative skills, something she credits her husband, Kevin Bacon, for encouraging her to try out. "It really is amazing that he saw in me something that I just didn't have the confidence to wrap my arms around," she said in Glamour in 2019. "It really wouldn't have happened unless he kept pounding the table."
In the same interview, Bacon shared, "I knew she could do it because when she would visit my sets, she'd always be so close to blurting out some kind of direction or suggestion. Also, in the way that she would analyze the films and television shows she would watch. She's incredibly opinionated about the way things are shot, the music, the casting, all of that. ... I've never seen her in work situations to be as happy as she is when she's directing. She just absolutely loves it, and she's great at it."
Sedgwick, who directed Bacon in the films "Story of a Girl" and "Space Oddity," also has ambitions for her husband. "No question I'm going to direct Kevin to his Oscar," she told AARP in 2021. "I don't know the script yet, but I tell you it's happening."
Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon's love has 'layers'
How do you keep a relationship strong after several decades of life together? Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, married since 1988, have different perspectives on what works.
"Communication is something [Kyra] brought to us as a family, 100%," Bacon told The Guardian in 2017. "Yeah, communication helps." But what also works, according to Sedgwick, is on the spicier side. "Well — I'm going to embarrass my kids — sex is important. Sex is really important," she shared with Redbook in 2012. "That desire is there. ... When he walks into a room, I'm still... I mean, my heart gets a little fluttery, and I think, Oh! He's so cute. He's so hot."
Whatever works, it's clear that Bacon and Sedgwick are committed to each other and their union. Like she told Redbook in 2008, as the years go by, there's always more to discover about each other. "[Our relationship] is like a treasure; there are layers and layers of it," she said. "I'm constantly amazed that we are still surprised and interested in each other."
Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick embrace the empty nest
As it is for many parents, adjusting to life after the kids move out is a process. Kyra Sedgwick has also seen it largely as an opportunity.
"How am I going to have my own hobbies, my own career, or things that make you feel connected to the world?" she told AARP in 2021. "They're going to be living their own life, and you better have one to go to. The other thing that happens is all of a sudden, you go, "Holy s***, I hope I like my husband. All of a sudden, this person and I are spending a lot more time together. Lucky for me was, like, I do like him."
Sedgwick's husband, Kevin Bacon, has taken to social media to share glimpses into their charming Connecticut farm life and everything from the mundane activities of marriage to the occasional epic #TBT post. In early 2022, Bacon shared a throwback photo — the couple's first "selfie" — with the funny caption, "Hey kids in the old days cameras and phones were two different things!" As for as how Bacon and Sedgwick fared during the pandemic lockdown? Well, as the "Tremors" star made clear on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," he for sure won't be adding "bikini waxer" to his resume any time soon.
So, what's Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon's secret?
Staying married for a long time while maintaining successful Hollywood careers may lead one to believe Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick know some incredible secret to sticking together through thick and thin. Surely, there must be some kind of secret?
"There's no secret," Sedgwick told the New York Post in 2021. "We just got so lucky when we were so young. I was 21 when I met him, 23 when we got married. ... No one is smart when they're 21. We're just really lucky, and it's not hard."
Sedgwick and Bacon, though, make it look easy, whether they're walking the red carpet at a movie premiere, singing with the goats on their farm, or starring in each other's movies. At the end of the day, they know they are each other's person. "Her partnership is invaluable," Bacon shared with People in 2020. "I found someone I was meant to be with." Well, if that doesn't warm the heart up like a pan of bacon.