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Michael Learned will always have a great love for Ralph Waite.
The actress, who starred as Olivia Walton in “The Waltons,” recently attended The Hollywood Show, where she opened up about how she kept her relationship with her on-screen husband platonic despite their chemistry.
“We had a spat about something totally insignificant, and I was so upset that I had to knock on his trailer door with tears streaming down my face,” Learned told Fox News Digital in a statement about a memory of the late actor that has stayed with her.
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Michael Learned and Ralph Waite “loved” each other, but they chose friendship over romance. ((c) Lorimar/ Everett Collection)
“I said, ‘We have to make up, or I can’t do the scene with you,’” she recalled. “He held out his arms and gave me a big hug. That was Ralph Waite.”
At the fan event, Learned revealed that while they both loved each other, “we didn’t sleep together in real life.”
“I just loved him, and he loved me,” she said, as quoted by People magazine.
Michael Learned (center) with the cast of “The Waltons” at The Hollywood Show 2025. (POSE Photo Ops )
“That was very real, and we were also very wise,” the 86-year-old shared. “We knew that that could just go downhill. So, as much as we loved each other, we were just very respectful of the show and who we were and who our characters were. So, we just remained dear, dear friends.”
“The Waltons” tells the tale of a family living in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia during the Great Depression. It ran for eight seasons between 1972 and 1981. According to the outlet, the success of the series resulted in six TV movies, which wrapped up in 1997.
Waite, who played patriarch John “Pa” Walton Sr., died in 2014 at age 85. The outlet shared that he last reunited with the cast a year before he died, for an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
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Michael Learned and Ralph Waite are seen here attending the signing of Mary McDonough’s book on April 16, 2011, in West Hollywood, California. Waite died in 2014. (Brian Putnam/FilmMagic/Getty Images)
Learned previously admitted that her on-screen chemistry with Waite was the real deal. However, they never pursued a romance.
“I loved him very much,” she explained to Fox News Digital in 2022. “And we loved each other as much as anybody could love anybody. We never slept together. But our love was so deep and spiritual. And you know, Ralph would put me in my place when he thought I was being an a—–e. He didn’t make any bones about telling me to shape up. And it was the same with me.”
“We were truly family, with all the ups and downs that come with it, except there was no prior baggage,” Learned added.
WATCH: MICHAEL LEARNED SAYS ‘THE WALTONS’ SAVED HER LIFE, CALLS FILM ‘SECOND ACTS’ A GIFT
The U.K.’s DailyMail first reported in 2019 that Learned and Waite “were in love” off-screen. At the time, a spokesperson for the actress confirmed to Fox News Digital that, even though the two stars were attracted to each other, they never escalated the relationship out of concern that it would get “messy.”
Michael Learned starred as matriarch Olivia Walton. (Photo by CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)
“We had a deep love for each other that we would have ruined if we had taken that extra step, and we didn’t,” Learned told the outlet. “We never did. We thought about it, but we didn’t. And I think that’s why we became a spiritual husband and wife, if you will, and I miss him terribly. His wife is a very good friend. But what Ralph and I had was something that came across on screen.”
The costars were tempted to explore their feelings further, she said.
“He was my spiritual husband,” said Michael Learned at the time of Ralph Waite’s death. “We loved each other for over forty years. He died a working actor at the top of his game. He was a loving mentor to many and a role model to an entire generation.” (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)
“We thought about it. We did,” Learned told the outlet. “There was a period where Ralph and I were both single, and we did love each other, so we made a date, and it was going to happen, and we got together, and we looked at each other and went, ‘Nah, this will never work.’
“Thankfully, we had the good sense to not take the next step, because I think it would have gotten messy. It might have gotten messy, but our love was very deep and true.”
“The smart thing was we were smart enough not to carry it to the next step, because I think it could have really turned bad,” Learned stressed. “I’m not sure, maybe, but our love was very deep and very special, and I miss him terribly.”
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“The Waltons,” which aired on CBS from 1972 to 1981, starred Ralph Waite as John Walton, and Richard Thomas played his oldest son, John-Boy, an aspiring novelist. The gentle family drama was set in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. (CBS via Getty Images)
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The cast has remained close over the years. Learned described them as “my second family.”
“We spent more time together shooting the show than we did with our own families,” she told Fox News Digital in 2022.
“So, of course, we became close. I love them. And it makes us feel good that the show continues to hit home. So many people came up to me, even today, and said, ‘Watching ‘The Waltons’ was the only time I felt safe for an hour.’ Others tell me it reminds them of their childhoods when life was sweeter and more innocent. We’re proud of our work.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
