Patricia Ward Kelly, the widow of Singin' In the Rain star Gene Kelly, has provided a rare insight into her relationship with the iconic actor.
The pair met while Ward Kelly was in her mid-20s in 1985 when their paths crossed during a work project.
Kelly would have been in his 70s when the two met but despite the 47-year age gap, they struck up an unbreakable bond.
In 1990, Kelly, then 77, and Ward Kelly, then 30, married in a much-talked-about ceremony.
This was Kelly's third marriage and the pair remained united up until his death six years later.
Much was made of the gulf in age between the two but Ward Kelly has now opened up about how that factor "was not an issue" for her.
Gene Kelly remains a Hollywood icon to this day
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Ward Kelly recently admitted: "I did not know who Gene Kelly was when I first met him. That always surprises people. In fact, some people think I'm making it up."
Addressing the age gap specifically, she added to Fox News Digital: "The age issue was not an issue for me.
"And the funny thing is, I never really even thought about it because he was so young at heart."
Kelly's youthful demeanour wasn't enough to divert tabloid attention, however, which Ward Kelly cites as the reason their age gap became such a notable feature among fans.
Gene Kelly and Patricia Ward Kelly tied the knot in 1990
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"(I didn't think about it) until the tabloids started making such a big deal about it," she told the publication.
"And then I didn't even add up the difference until they made a big deal."
This isn't the first time Ward Kelly has discussed her relationship with Kelly publicly in recent years, sitting down with GB News' own Eamonn Holmes and his wife Ruth Langsford in a 2019 edition of This Morning.
After branding him a "genius" when it came to his musical talents, Ward Kelly was asked about their first meeting in which she divulged: "There was a little bit of an age difference."
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Gene Kelly and Patricia Ward Kelly pictured in 1992
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She laughed off the remark before adding to Holmes and Langsford: "We got hired to do this 90-minute television special about the Smithsonian Museum... I didn't know who (he) was - I was so often in the library I didn't go to the movies!
"So I was walking to the ladies' room and he was coming out of the men's room and we sort of bumped into each other and I actually saluted him and thought, 'I wonder if this is the guy who everyone is going crazy about'.
"The women were dying to get at him - he was the most eligible bachelor in the world."
Kelly was married twice before his nuptials with Ward Kelly, marrying Betsy Blair in 1941 until their divorce in 1957, and tying the knot with Jeanne Coyne in 1960 until she died in 1973.
He was also survived by three children from those two marriages.
