Michelle Pfeiffer & David E. Kelley Raised A Child Together 2 Months After Meeting And Are Still Going Strong 30 Years On

Oct 19, 2022

Michelle Pfeiffer is one of the most renowned actresses in Hollywood, but unlike many stars, she has kept a relatively low profile when it comes to her personal life. Her marriage to David E. Kelley has been a success, which is a rarity in the entertainment industry. 

Married in 1993, this pair has been together for nearly three decades. The power couple has been successful within their respective fields, with Kelley's screenwriting career giving him notable awards in some of the top legal dramas in the country while Pfeiffer remains a Hollywood icon.

Since 2017, some of Pfeiffer's notable roles have been in movies such as "Ant-Man and the Wasp" as well as "Avengers: Endgame," both of which have received critical acclaim. In her most recent role as Frances Price in the movie "French Exit," Pfeiffer adopted a new redhead look that brings out her beauty even more. Currently, her career appears to be getting better, and she seems to be getting even stronger.

Both husband and wife have hit career milestones. In 1987, Kelley wrote his first film, "From the Hip," and it was received moderately. His work with "L.A. Law" was, however, widely recognized and made him even more popular. With time, the show became a hit, and after one year, Kelley officially resigned from his legal job in Boston. Kelley has gone on to become a renowned screenwriter and is one of the few to have created shows for the top four TV networks – ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC.

With both husband and wife having successful careers in the entertainment industry, it may be surprising that they are also excellent parents to two children as well. Keep reading to learn more about Pfeiffer's career, husband and journey into motherhood.

As an actress, Michelle Pfeiffer isn't shy, but she still makes a habit of getting out of social situations whenever she can. She shared, "There's a line in 'The Age of Innocence' – I'm not sure if it's actually in the novel or just in the movie – that says, 'Americans want to get away from amusement even more quickly than they want to get to it,' I've been doing that my entire life."

Parties are one example of the type of event Pfeiffer tries to avoid. "Somebody threw a party for me, and it was just the worst evening," she said about her 40th birthday party. "I have an eclectic group of friends, and they don't necessarily gel, so I felt responsible – Why aren't they talking? Are they not having a good time? I felt responsible, and I think that was the last party I ever had."

In the 2020 film "French Exit," Pfeiffer plays a character who leaves her life in Manhattan to move to France. The title also refers to leaving a party without saying goodbye. "I didn't realize that there was something called a French exit until I read this script," Pfeiffer said. "And it's something I do, so it made me feel better that this thing actually has a name."

While Pfeiffer may enjoy the phrase French exit, her character in the film, Frances Price, isn't much like her in real life. "There's something incredibly liberating about somebody who speaks her mind so freely," she said about the role. "She can be rude and very curt at times, but I loved her take-no-­prisoners attitude. We spend our entire lives trying to be polite, trying to not upset the apple cart, and she doesn't really have any of that."

The film's director, Azazel Jacobs, loved getting to work with the incredible actress. "Michelle's recent work showed me somebody who was still very hungry, even though she had proven herself," he said. "So I sent her the script. When I heard that she wanted to meet, I did my best to prepare, but nothing could have prepared me for immediately feeling like I would do anything to work with this person."

The director added:

"She's a very easy-going person, and that comes through in her process. Frances is a performer, and (in portraying her) Michelle was performing, but the second the scene stopped, she was nothing like her character."

The writer and director of "The Fabulous Baker Boys," Steve Kloves, is a longtime friend of Pfeiffer's. He shared:

"We met in an odd way. I had 'Baker Boys' floating around, and it wasn't getting made. I had become friends with Peter Horton (Pfeiffer's first husband), and then I became friends with Michelle. We both smoked at the time, so we would go into the kitchen to smoke and talk, and that's how I got to know her. When it was decided that I was the guy to direct the movie, I offered it to Michelle, and it took me about a week to convince her to do it.

"I remember why I wanted to work with her. There's the first impression of her being so beautiful, but that wasn't an asset to me. Sitting in the kitchen with her all those nights, I realized how funny and smart she was, and that she was interested in the details of things. I came to see her in a completely different way, and I liked the idea of confounding expectations."

As for herself, Pfeiffer has mixed feelings about some of her most iconic roles. "Some of the performances I have felt the best about are ones for which I've gotten panned," she said. "The ones that make me cringe are typically when I got the best reviews. I saw 'Scarface' and I went, 'Eh, I'm okay.' I rarely like my work. I only look at films once. It's just too painful."

Acting was Pfeiffer's whole world until she became a mother. She shared:

"Before the kids were born, my work was my life – and it was in a good way. When they were small, I could just pack them up and bring them with me. But then it became, 'Okay, how long will this separate the family unit?' When they got into school it became even more complicated, because I didn't want to just take them out of their routine, so I would shoot in the summer and tried to not be away for more than two or three weeks at a time. It became challenging for people to hire me because it was too complicated. It was easier to get somebody else to do the part."

The star continued, "I realized my daughter was looking at colleges, and I saw the writing on the wall. I thought, 'This is going to hit me really hard. It's time for me to get back into moviemaking.'"

Getting back to work wasn't as simple as Pfeiffer had hoped. "Your seat is never saved in this industry. It's very competitive," she said. "There's that transition time when you're not the ingenue, and you're not really old enough to be the grandmother – you're not old enough to play Frances. I'm at an age when the parts are getting more interesting again for me. I guess the timing of it really worked out because I don't feel I missed out on much."

According to Elle Fanning, who starred alongside Pfeiffer in "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil," the legendary actress is a pleasure to work with. "Michelle is the epitome of effortless cool. Here we were on a huge set as part of this massive machine, and Michelle came in and made it fun for everyone. It's inspiring to see someone who has done everything she has and is still willing to make-believe," Fanning said.

Pfeiffer shows no sign of slowing down. Her career is flourishing, and she is thinking ahead to her next creative endeavor. "I want to do more theater," she said. "I've got too much on my plate at the moment, but that's the thing I wish that I had been able to do more of."

With so much success under her belt, Pfeiffer hasn't lost her sense of self and still loves to leave parties early. "It's easier to have a French exit these days than it was many years ago," she said with a smile. "Now you can just text people and say, 'I had to run, didn't want to be rude.'"

Pfeiffer's husband, David E. Kelley's career has also been a success story. Not only is he a renowned television writer in Hollywood, but he is also a television producer with shows like "L.A. Law" and "The Practice" in his pocket. To his beloved wife, Kelley is a loving and supportive husband and father. 

The two have been each other's support system as they grew their career for almost three decades. Pfeiffer was previously married to Peter Horton from 1981 to 1988. She was 22 when she first wed. Speaking of her first marriage, Pfeiffer told Parade Magazine in 2012, "I married Peter at a very young age. I'm not the same person I was then."

She married Kelley in 1993 and posted a heartwarming tribute on social media as she and her husband marked 27 years of being together in November 2020. In the Instagram post, she shared an older photo with Kelley along with a recent one. Her caption read, "My one and only for 27 years. 🙏 Happy Anniversary to my love 😍"

According to Biography.com, Kelley was born in Waterville, Maine, in 1956. During his studies at Princeton University, he majored in politics and was also the ice hockey club captain while at the university. Kelley's father, Jack Kelley, was a coach for the NHL's Hartford Whalers before he became the president of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Kelley graduated from Princeton in 1979 and went to Boston University Law School. He earned his J.D. in 1983 and worked at the institution's law firm Fine & Ambrogne. His entry into the entertainment industry was rather unforeseen as Kelley was a well-trained lawyer at the time. 

While Kelley was practicing minor criminal law and real estate cases, he began to dabble in writing. Kelley was naturally energetic, and practicing law was somewhat boring for him, so he decided to venture into scriptwriting. Toward the end of 1983, he started writing a movie screenplay and managed to get an agent in 1986. His script ended up going to Steven Bochco, a famous television producer who was coincidentally searching for legal-minded writers.

When Bochco went through Kelley's script, he was impressed. Within no time, Kelley was already working with Bochco as the story editor for "L.A. Law," a new drama series at that time. To work with Bochco, Kelley applied for a leave of absence at his previous workplace – Fine & Ambrogne. He moved to Los Angeles to work as a story editor, a move that would launch his successful career in the entertainment industry. 

Pfeiffer told Closer Weekly that being happily married for nearly three decades gives her great joy in life. She said of Kelley, "I never take him for granted. I've never met a person who has more integrity than my husband. There's his humor and intelligence, too, and he's really cute – all those things."

The actress also said that she "chose really well with David" and that she got really "lucky" with him. Considering that Kelley and Pfeiffer essentially began to raise a family so early in their relationship, it certainly was not a traditional relationship in many ways. 

When the couple met, Pfeiffer was already in the process of adopting a child. She had been dating Kelley for just two months when she received approval to adopt her daughter Claudia.

Speaking to Good Housekeeping in 2007, Pfeiffer said, "When she came, he and I had only been together for about two months. So we had this child with us right away, and … I really got to see him in a situation that certainly would separate the boys from the men. Obviously, he really rose to the occasion."

Pfeiffer added:

"So we both got to see each other as parents before we progressed in our relationship together, and in a strange way, it took the pressure off us, as a couple. We had something else to focus on. It was sort of perfectly timed. I mean, it's a real testament to the kind of person he is, but also to the fact that sometimes the traditional way of doing things isn't always the best way."

One year after adopting Claudia, the couple was blessed with their second child, John. It was at this point that Pfeiffer took some time off from her acting career to focus on raising the children, according to Closer Weekly. However, she went back to work when they got older. Pfeiffer said in 2018, "I just realized that I'm not done. I have a lot more to do, and a lot more to say. I'm never going to be one who retires."

Kelley isn't slowing down either. He created one of HBO's most critically acclaimed series, "Big Little Lies." Still, his wife doesn't have any plans to star in one of his shows. "I've seen a lot of couples where they seem to have a really great marriage, and then they work together and next year they're filing for divorce," Pfeiffer said. 

Instead of mixing business with their personal lives, Pfeiffer and Kelley maintain a healthy relationship at home with their kids. 

What do you think of this power couple? Let us know how David and Michelle have inspired you to love and grow in your own relationship – and make sure to share this with your friends and family.