Billy Crystal celebrates his 77th birthday on March 14, 2025 and will be enjoying his day with wife Janice, whom he married in 1970
In the years since they met as teenagers the pair have been through highs and lows but have stuck together throughout it all including the recent devastating loss of their family home in the Pacific Palisades fires.
Here is all we know about Janice and her relationship with Billy…
© WireImage for Vanity FairWhen did Billy Crystal meet his wife?
Billy graduated from Long Beach High School, California in 1965 and moved to the east coast to attend Marshall University in West Virginia.
The sumer between his freshman and sophomore year Billy, then 18, got a job at a summer camp in New York where he met Janice and knew immediately he would marry her.
© Michael Ochs Archives"This girl walks by ... and I said, 'I’m gonna marry her.' And I did, four years later,” he once told Marc Maron on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast.
"I loved her so much right away," he said. “You know, I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a long-distance relationship — they don’t work out."
© Fairchild Archive via Getty ImagBilly then transferred to Nassau Community College on Long Island in New York, where he could continue to see Janice, before later finally graduating from New York University.
What does Billy Crystal's wife do?
Despite Billy's fame in the spotlight, Janice has had a behind-the-scenes career in the entertainment industry.
She's worked as a producer on several projects, including Billy Crystal: 700 Sundays, a Tony Award-winning one-man show based on Billy's life, and Midnight Train to Moscow, a 1986 TV special.
What has Billy said about his wife?
"[Janice is] everything," the actor told Gayle King during an interview in December 2023. "Her honesty, her strength, her love. [She is] the weight in my shoes in case I tend to drift off."
Billy, who has credited his own parents for setting an example, told People in 2024 that "respect, humor, honesty, and respect for our lives as individuals and as a couple" are the traits that have kept them going for five decades.
© Ron Galella Collection via Getty“Just enjoy all the time that you have together," he adds. "Through the thin and the thinner."
Family life
Billy and Janice's eldest daughter Jennifer was born in 1973 and has followed in her father's footsteps with a career in acting.
Known for her roles in House and Once and Again, 51-year-old Jennifer has built a steady career in television. She also had guest roles on Beverly Hills 90210, NYPD Blue and Touched by an Angel.
© Ron Galella Collection via GettyJennifer is married to Michael Foley, and the couple has two children, Ella and Dylan.
Billy's second daughter Lindsay was born in 1977, and she took a different route into the entertainment industry as a director and producer. She has worked on documentaries and other film projects, including My Uncle Berns, a 2004 documentary about her great-uncle that garnered critical acclaim.
© Getty Images for TCMLindsay has also worked with her father on projects like HBO's 61*, directed by Billy, which earned several Emmy nominations.
Despite being more behind the scenes, the 47-year-old made her onscreen debut in her father's film City Slickers and even had a role in the sequel, City Slickers 2.
Did Billy Crystal lose his home in the LA fires?
© Getty Images for TCMTragically Billy and Janice's home in Pacific Palisades where they had raised their family was destroyed in January 2025 during the LA wildfires.
"Janice and I lived in our home since 1979," Billy said in a statement.
"We raised our children and grandchildren here. Every inch of our house was filled with love. Beautiful memories that can't be taken away. We are heartbroken of course but with the love of our children and friends we will get through this."
Billy's thoughts on fatherhood and becoming a grandad
After becoming parents, Billy touched on how much his relationship changed with Janice. "When I first became a dad back in 1973, Janice was working, and I was starting my career as a stand-up at night. So, during the day, I was 'Mr. Mom' and that changed my life totally," he said.
"The responsibility as a 25-year-old with an infant that can't get through the day without you," he continued. "When you learn that you can love something much more than yourself, it was the greatest experience in my life as a person."
© Getty ImagesThe comedy legend added: "That's been my total effort of my life is to leave the world with two amazing daughters - grown women now, mothers of their own. And that they then teach their children, our four grandchildren, what it means the responsibility in our world, which is changing constantly."
On becoming a grandparent, Billy told The Guardian in 2013: "When my daughter Jenny was pregnant with our first grandchild, Ella, it was very profound for me because Jenny is my firstborn daughter."
He added: "You have to really respect what your kids are doing with their kids and how they’re raising them. You can’t push your way into areas where you shouldn’t be saying anything. You have to always remember they’re not your own kids. Play with them, love them, spoil them to death – then hand them back."
