Warren Beatty is out promoting his first movie in 18 years, Rules Don’t Apply. He plays Howard Hughes, who is something of an obsession for Beatty. One of the reasons I like Beatty is that he doesn’t give overly complex answers. People try to psychoanalyze him and he shuts them down by implying he’s just not that complicated. Like when he was asked about why his numerous exes didn’t want to all throw him on the pyre his response was, “I’m a nice guy.” Maybe he was being cheeky but that would explain it, wouldn’t it? He plays his hand close to his chest and I dig that. He appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show for the first time, even though he and Ellen met years ago. While there, he discussed his 25-year marriage to Annette Bening. Beatty gave up his playboy status and married Annette at the age of 54 and, according to Beatty, it was the smartest thing he’s ever done.

“It feels recent,” he said. “It is the best thing that has ever occurred with me.”

The pair wed in 1992 and have been together ever since.

“I was not afraid of marriage. I was afraid of divorce,” Beatty told DeGeneres. “I was right.”

He went on to recall meeting his future wife on the set of the 1991 film Bugsy, saying, “We made a movie together in which we were very professional. And at the end of the movie, we decided to [get together] – it was a rather immediate decision.”

When DeGeneres asked Beatty to name another celebrity that Bening has a crush on, he firmly replied, “I would block it out. I wouldn’t be able to deal with it!”

[From ET]

I kind of understand what he means about not being afraid of marriage but of divorce. I wasn’t so much afraid of divorce but couldn’t grasp the concept of how one stays married forever so I shied away from marrying in the first place. Then I met The Mister and the forever part made much more sense.

The interview is fun to watch because Beatty and Ellen do go way back and they talk like cousins who only see each other at Thanksgiving – familiar but stilted. Like most of his interviews, when people want to dwell on his legendary dating history, Beatty shrugs off the question with a sense of ‘that was then’ and brings it back to Annette and now. His comment about blocking out any crush Annette had surprised me some because I see him as so confident. That said, I like that he is willing to show his vulnerability when it comes to her. That answer came during a round of rapid fire yes/no questions Ellen was trying to get him to answer. He admitted to never being in handcuffs and not being a member of the Mile High Club, although Ellen called him a liar. The one question he dodged was “Who is better at picking up members of the opposite sex – you or Jack Nicholson.” Of all the questions, that is probably the answer I wanted to hear the most.

Photo credit: WENN and Fame/Flynet Photos