People say that fame changes people, but Neal McDonough is one famous person who hasn’t lost touch with who they really are. He loves his family more than anything else, and even though he is a big star, he never misses a chance to spoil his kids or make his wife feel loved.
We at Hiptoro were really impressed by Neal’s ability to balance his family and work life. That’s why we did thorough research so you could learn more about this couple’s unique situation.
Neal McDonough comes from a family that is not in show business.
His father met his mother at the Ford plant where he worked. He then went into real estate and bought a small hotel where Neal grew up, on Cape Cod. Neal’s father taught him how to be a good worker and told him that if he worked hard, he would be very successful.
As the youngest of six kids, it was always fun for him to make his older brothers and sisters laugh. He said,
I was the school’s prankster and the center of attention.
He was terrible at math and reading because he had dyslexia, but he was great at making people laugh.
How Neal got his start: His path to becoming an actor.
Neal went to and graduated from Barnstable High School. He then went to Syracuse University, where he joined the Sigma Chi fraternity and got his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1988. He was given a big scholarship to play baseball in college, but he turned it down and went into acting instead.
In 1991, he won the award for “Best Actor in a Drama” for his role in “Away Alone.” His first movie, Darkman, came out in 1990. Boomtown, Star Trek: First Contact, Minority Report, Walking Tall, and The Hitcher were all big hits.
He also got good reviews for his famous role as the villain Damien Darhk in the TV show Arrow. Darhk was a guy with magical powers, which shows that he’s a good person in real life.
He also said that before he met his wife, he had planned to stop working in Hollywood. He was going to go back to Cape Cod, work at the motel his parents owned, and do community theater. Then Steven Spielberg called and asked him to try out for Band of Brothers, and it was game on.
In the year 2000, Neal McDonough and Ruvé Robertson met.
When Neal was filming Band of Brothers in 2000, the two lovers met by chance. He says that the first time he saw his wife, Ruvé, he fell in love with her. During an interview in 2004, he also said that they ran into each other on St. Patrick’s Day.
In the same way, he said that when he saw her for the first time, he accidentally said,
You’re tall.
He was seeing someone else when they met, so he called his then-girlfriend and told her,
I’m sorry, but it’s not going to work out between us anymore. I just met the woman I’m going to marry.
The McDonoughs got married in 2003.
Three years after they first met, Ruvé and Neal got married on December 1, 2003. Their wedding was beautiful, and they had a great time on their honeymoon. It went on for 7 weeks in Cape Cod, London, Santa Barbara, South Africa, and other places.
He still uses Instagram to show how much he loves his wife. On their 13th wedding anniversary, he posted a sweet message saying that he had married his best friend, love, and life partner. He thanked her again for being the best thing that could have happened to him.
The McDonoughs have been married for 19 years and still have a great life with their two boys and three girls.
Their first child was Morgan Patrick McDonough. Then they had Catherine Maggie McDonough, who was their second child. After a few years, they had a daughter named London Jane McDonough, who was their third child.
Then Clover Elizabeth McDonough was born, and then James Hamilton McDonough, their youngest child, joined the family. So, the seven-person family in Los Angeles lives a happy life together.
Neal McDonough refused to do kissing scenes for movies and TV shows after his marriage.
So, on the way to becoming an actor, he made it clear that his faith comes first. In fact, in his 30-year career, he has never done a scene that wasn’t right. Even though they’ve been married for so long, the father of five still loves his wife more than anyone else. He said,
I won’t kiss any other woman because these lips are only for one woman.
Some people in Hollywood have been willing to respect his beliefs, like when he got a part on a show with a lot of inappropriate content:
When Marc Cherry signed me, I told him, ’You probably already know this, but I won’t kiss anyone.
He recalled telling the show’s creator that he was a Christian.
’But this is Desperate Housewives!’ Cherry said. I told him, ’I know.’ He waited about 5 seconds and then said, ’Okay, I’ll just have to write better.’
He was fired from Scoundrels because he wouldn’t kiss anyone else’s lips but his wife’s.
McDonough said that his policy of “no love scenes” cost him a part on the ABC show Scoundrels in 2010. Because he loved his wife, he said “no” to doing racy scenes with actress Virginia Madsen. People say that he lost $1 million by doing this.
He was shocked, and the situation was terrible for him. After that, no one would hire him because he wouldn’t take part in scenes like that. He commented,
I have a lot of faith.
Neal and his family made it through the storm because they didn’t try to change the world. Instead, they put their trust in themselves.
He knew he had made the right choice when he put his faith in himself and his wife, the woman he had loved at first sight. He said,
I’m the luckiest guy I know to have her as my partner in everything after 5 kids and a really great life.
Neal may have had some hard times, but since then, his career has been amazing. Even if not everyone knows his name, everyone knows his face.
Do you think Neal McDonough spends enough time with his family? Do you agree that he is the best example of a loving, devoted father and husband? Tell us in the comments what you think.
