American TV watchers have grown up with Patricia Heaton, who achieved her career breakthrough and global fame with her portrayal of Debra Barone in the CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond that ran from 1996 to 2005.
Although she began her career appearing in a recurring role in the ABC drama series Thirtysomething in the late 1980s, it was her role as Debra, the sensitive and beleaguered stay-at-home Long Island mom and wife to Ray Barone who is forced to deal with her husband's daily havoc and intrusive family members, that saw her become a familiar face across the nation.
Off screen, Patricia was a much happier person, as she was married to actor David Hunt, whom she had met when he sublet his New York City apartment to Patricia while he was away performing. Through conversation, they later discovered they had worked in restaurants block away from each other, and this invisible string led to them marrying in 1990.
But it wasn't always easy. Patricia had been briefly married to a man she met in acting school, but was divorced after three years. She sat David in a car once and told him that she loved him and would go anywhere with him "but you have to make a commitment to me now because it’s either time to you-know-what or get off the pot".
David revealed that the ultimatum left him frozen, but he snapped out of it and the next day purchased an engagement ring, dropping to one knee in the office Patricia worked in.
On their wedding day, Patricia was "weeping" all down the aisle. "And people in the pews thought that they were tears of joy," she told Biography. "All I was thinking was, 'Here I go again, marrying an actor that’s completely wrong for me.''
But together they built a life together, and David was there to support Patricia through the huge changes that were to come, as they lived in Los Angeles and raised four boys: Samuel, John, Joseph, and Daniel, all born between 1993 and 1999.
"Marriage is a really wonderful thing, but as hard as I had to work to get where I am professionally, I’ve had to do the exact same thing in marriage," Patricia told Parade in 2014.
"It’s tough to be with one person for the rest of your life, when you both grow at different rates and in different directions. You have to figure out how to grow differently ‘together.'"
Around 2023 the pair decided to uproot their lives in Los Angeles and move to Nashville, Tennessee. "We just thought that the taxes are high, the crime is high, the homelessness is high, and we're not working in LA as much as we're working outside of LA so why don't we leave?" Patricia shared on a recent episode of The Rubin Report podcast.
"And so we just said, 'Let’s go to Nashville,' because we were familiar with it, we had friends there and we really haven’t looked back," she recounted.
It's unclear when exactly the pair made the big move from the genteel residential enclave of Hancock Park in Los Angeles, to Nashville, but in January 2024 she shared with fans that their renovations were complete and she had invited a local Catholic priest to their home to bless it.
"Renovations are finally finished so @fatherdanreehil came over and blessed our #Nashville home! Does anyone else have their house or car blessed? Growing up my dad always had our car blessed," she shared.
Patricia and David are among a series of celebrities who have moved Music City, which has emerged post-pandemic as a thriving boomtown with a strong job market, attractive lifestyle amenities, and of course the world-famous music scene.
The housing market is still relatively affordable compared with Los Angeles with the most recent median list price for a home in Nashville under $532,000 – less than half of the median list price in Los Angeles. Tennessee also has no state tax, compared to California's 13% state tax.
Their sons, however, remain in Los Angeles.
"When you're a mom in real life… you bring everybody else food. If they don't like it you make you something else. You drive everybody else around. And nobody thinks you're smart or funny at home, even if you've won Emmys for your incredible humor, they don't think so," she told Today.com of parenting.
"Maybe they would if they actually watched the show that pays for all their stuff. But they don't. So they don't realize how talented and funny you are. But that's the difference and it's a good balance, so it keeps everything in perspective."
David and Patricia are doting parents, however, and honored their boys by naming their production company FourBoys Entertainment.
"We wanted to leave a legacy for our kids. We want to contribute something to culture that’s truthful but is grounded in hope, the hope that we have through our faith, that God is in control, and that all things work to the good of those who love the Lord" Patricia once told The Christian Post. "We know that’s true. That doesn’t mean you create content that’s sugar-coated … but we’re about bringing truth into the world and ultimately bringing hope into the world."
Both David and Patricia are practicing Catholics, but despite being a registered Republican for decades, Patricia denounced Donald Trump in 2016 and left the party in 2020 when supporters of President Trump attempted an insurrection at the United States Capitol attack, two months after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.
"P.S. I didn’t vote in the last presidential cycle and will not be voting in this one. I am not a Trump supporter," she tweeted in February 2020, and a year later confirmed she was registered as an independent.