Michelle Pfeiffer prefers to keep her marriage out of the spotlight, but she broke her own rules when she made a rare appearance with her husband, David E. Kelley, on Wednesday.
The actress, 68, attended a screening of the couple's new Apple TV+ series, Margo's Got Money Troubles, at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, California, after previously admitting it would be "too risky" for their marriage to mix their work and personal lives.
As such, Michelle and David, 70, are rarely pictured at events together, but after deciding to team up on Margo's Got Money Troubles, they broke all their rules and posed for photos together at the screening, too.
Michelle portrays Shyanne, a former Hooters waitress, who is also the mother of Elle Fanning's character Margo Millet, a 20-year-old college dropout and single mother who joins OnlyFans to make ends meet.
David, meanwhile, serves as showrunner, writer, and executive producer.
The couple, who have been married for almost 33 years, broke their long-standing rule of not working together after David suggested Michelle read the 2024 novel of the same name by Rufi Thorpe because he "could see her as [the character] Shyanne."
© Getty Images"I had read the book and could only see her as Shyanne," he told USA Today. "Fortunately, it didn't take a lot of convincing because I gave the book to her and she responded to the character of Shyanne as well."
Michelle felt the same way and shared that it was "love at first sight." The reason this project was an exception to their usual rule of keeping love and work separate was because of the character's familiarity.
© Getty Images"I know this woman," Michelle added. "It's just really exciting, I think it's the first time I played something so familiar from my background, my upbringing."
She added: "I love playing complex characters. She's bold and she's flamboyant and she's crass at times, but also, incredibly, has a lot of pride and is fragile underneath it all. And I love playing characters who are flawed."
© Apple TVIn 2022, Michelle admitted that she and David had never worked together because they feared it would be "too risky" for their marriage.
"Nobody writes, honestly, better for women than he does," she said of her husband on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
"It's unbelievable. And yet, I value our relationship more than a good part, and I just think it’s too risky."
© WireImageShe added: "We're both kind of fierce when we work, and so if I come home and I've had a bad day, and I'm upset about something, I want him to be on my side because he hasn't heard the other side. There's value in that."
In a 2012 interview with Parade, Michelle shared the same sentiment for keeping their marriage and work separate.
"I'd worry about coming home and complaining to him about the people I work with," she explained. "I wouldn't want to bring my work home with me like that. But it doesn't mean we won't do something together one day. I couldn't ask for anyone better."
