ILS: holly robinson peete & rodney peete

When you’ve got good love, you hold on tight. Actress Holly Robinson, 41, and former NFL player Rodney Peete, 44, know this for sure. The couple, who’ve been married for 16 years, have been blessed with four beautiful children, one of whom has autism. Robinson Peete is deeply devoted to the fight to raise awareness for autism groups, and she frequently credits her husband for holding things down at home. In the beginning, raising a special needs child was so challenging, they almost ended their marriage. Luckily, love (and lots of therapy) saved the day. Today Holly and Rodney have no qualms about talking about the rocky years, though they’d much rather focus on the more beautiful ones.
A mutual friend thought Holly and Rodney would be perfect for each other so she invited the actress to a picnic hosted by the then Dallas Cowboys quarterback. They started dating. After a year dating, Rodney surprised Holly with a wedding proposal on the set of popular 90s sitcom, “Hanging with Mr. Cooper,” which she was starring in at the time.

“Before we had kids, we were adventurous travelers, fun-loving — sex in the kitchen, stuff like that,” Holly and Rodney were blessed with twins Ryan and Rodney Jr. two years after getting married. Holly and Rodney’s son Rodney Jr. was diagnosed with autism at 2 1/2. “We both were devastated”. Through the challenging times ahead, Holly and Rodney persevered. “It’s definitely brought us together. It’s the whole corny “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” thing,” said Holly. The beautiful couple welcomed their son Robinson in 2002 and another son, Roman, in 2005. The power couple refers to their family as Team Peete.

So what is the key to making a marriage work? “It’s about having trust and respect for one another, it’s laying out the ground rules before we got married,” The Peetes’ can always be found on the dance floor. “We have fun together; we have date nights and do things that we did when we didn’t have kids. We keep the spark,”

“We’re both willing to put the work in because what you get is so tremendous. And we have a special needs child so we have a lot of responsibility. I feel like we’re business partners in a way, the family business.” Holly and Rodney told Oprah that although their marriage is beautiful, they still see a counselor once in a while so they’re always on the same page. “We are married today because Rodney P. agreed to go sit down and talk about his feelings, and that’s the number one reason,” she said.