Linda Purl ‘Ordering’ Patrick Duffy to Cut Back on Wine: She Wants Him ‘Awake and Alert’
Patrick Duffy and Linda Purl were having a blast together during the early days of their relationship, but now she's putting a cork in his bad habits.
The Dallas alum, 75, "loves his wine," a source exclusively tells Closer. "Relaxing with a bottle of red is his idea of the perfect down time, but she's ordering him to nip it and get with her program."
The Happy Days actress, 69, is cramping Patrick's style, says the insider, and it's got him on edge.
In fact, Patrick previously admitted in a 2023 interview with Senior Planet, "I drink a lot! I think a glass or two of red wine a day is beneficial. And, at this age, I'm going to outlive my liver anyway. So enjoy yourself and don't be quite so Puritan in your attitude."
He added that he has to "literally" keep up with Linda, who says, "Let's go take a walk or ride down by the ocean."
According to Closer's source, "She doesn't want them waking up groggy. She wants him wide awake and alert. She's always been a nature lover — he is, too, but she's 'go, go, go' all the time. Morning to night, she's got him cycling, hiking, doing hot yoga and cooking healthy meals with her."
Patrick, who unexpectedly fell in love with Linda during the COVID-19 pandemic, is doing it, "but with a slight grimace," the source reveals.
"She's asking him to spend the remainder of the year being physically fit and active," the insider says. "He's healthier now than before they fell in love, but she wants the extra effort. The feeling among their friends is if he thinks he can sit around guzzling bottle after bottle of vino, he'll just end up turning her off and driving her away."
Otherwise, things have been great for the couple, who recently told Closer all about the secrets to their happy life together.
"It's thrilling to pull someone into the weave of your life at this stage," Linda said. "After all, we're not in our 20s."
Patrick first met Linda in 1980 at a reading of a play, but both were married at the time. "[After that] Patrick and I met every 20 years, but just like, 'Oh, hi, nice to see you,'" recalled Linda.
When they reconnected in 2020 via a group text, the pandemic and their life circumstances gave them the opportunity to get to know each other better.
"I had been a widower for about three years," explained Patrick. "Everything was timed perfectly for me to feel comfortable going deeper into our relationship."
He and Linda enjoyed each other's company so much that they made a standing date to catch up every evening.
"Patrick was in Oregon, and I was in Colorado," explained Linda. "We didn't start out with the intention of romance. He was a buddy. We would just chat for two and three hours because we had nothing on our calendars."
One day, "Patrick got in his car and drove 23 hours to see me," Linda said — and the rest is history!
"Blending our lives together was 90 percent seamless," he said. "People say this all the time, but it felt like we'd been together 40 years."
