Ron Howard Takes a 'Birthday Walk' with Longtime Wife Cheryl as He Turns 70

Ron Howard and his wife Cheryl met in high school and have been married since 1975

Ron Howard birthday video
Ron Howard and Cheryl Howard. Photo:

Ron Howard/X

Ron Howard is celebrating his 70th birthday with an early morning walk.

On Friday, Howard took to X (formerly Twitter) to share a video of him and his wife Cheryl Howard acknowledging the scores of followers wishing the actor and filmmaker a happy birthday.

"Hey all, Cheryl and I are getting ready to go on our early morning walk," Ron said in the video, before Cheryl playfully added, "He's 70 - he just turned 70."

"It happens to be my birthday today, and I picked up my phone and I noticed that on Twitter and X, a lot of well wishes. A lot of happy birthdays coming from you folks," Ron shared. "They said it before me," Cheryl joked.

"Thank you, thank you for that," Ron told his followers. "And as I contemplate my life here on my 70th birthday I'm also reminded of how much support you've given me, my work. It's been a lifetime, and I've loved it. I still love it."

"You've watched the shows old and new, the movies I've made — I hope you'll watch the movies I'm continuing to make and planning to make and the work coming out of Imagine Entertainment — it's really a joy to be able to live this life and do this work and thank you for supporting it over these years," he added.

"We're off for a very long walk," Cheryl added, prompting Ron to laugh. "A birthday walk," he said. 

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Ron, a two-time Oscar winner for his 2001 film A Beautiful Mind, first met his wife Cheryl in high school in California. The pair married in 1975 and share four adult children: daughters Bryce Dallas, Jocelyn Carlyle and Paige Carlyle, as well as son Reed Cross. Their daughter Bryce Dallas, 42, recently shared on The Drew Barrymore Show that Cheryl — an accomplished author — turned Ron down the first two times he proposed marriage.

"He proposed three times and she said no two of them," Bryce Dallas recalled on the show. "Because she was like, 'I wanna go to school first. I'm not ready to be on your train yet.' She's really strong."

Cheryl Howard (L) and Ron Howard attend a special screening of "Thirteen Lives" at the Vue West End on July 18, 2022 in London, England.
Cheryl Howard and Ron Howard on July 18, 2022.

David M. Benett/Dave Benett/WireImage

Back in 2019, Ron told PEOPLE about his romance with Cheryl, recalling that, "I met her, and there was never anybody else."

Ron began his career as a child actor on shows like The Andy Griffith Show and the beloved sitcom Happy Days; he then transitioned to directing and producing and remains active behind the camera. He most recently directed the 2022 films Thirteen Lives and We Feed People, with several more projects on the way, per his IMDb page.

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