Helen Hunt Honors 4 Years With ‘Big Little Lies’ Star Boyfriend After They First Dated Over 35 Years Ago

Helen Hunt is loving life and celebrated her fourth anniversary with boyfriendJeffrey Nordling.

The Mad About You star, 62, who started her career as a child actress with a guest role on The Facts of Life and in the beloved movie Girls Just Want to Have Fun, rose to fame as Jamie Buchman on the NBCsitcom alongside comedian Paul Reiser. She went on to tremendous success in her film career with blockbusters like Twister and critically acclaimed films like As Good as It Gets alongside Jack Nicholson and Greg Kinnear, for which she won an Academy Award in 1998. In the last decade, Hunt has focused primarily on directing, but fans like us were thrilled to see her back on the screen as the powerful network executive Winnie Landell on the third season of the HBO comedy hit Hacks.

In her personal life, Hunt is also thriving. The star took to Instagram on Saturday to post a sweet photo of herself and Nordling with the caption “…and now we’re 4 ❤️,” making it clear that the couple has been together for four years. The natural blonde beauty looked happier than ever alongside Nordling, who played Laura Dern‘s husband Gordon in Big Little Lies. But the couple’s path to love was anything but smooth.

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The Couple’s Unique Love Story

Last year, Helen shared in an interview that she and Nordling actually first got together several decades ago.

“We dated in 1988!” Hunt told The Flow Space. “I’ve never really talked about that. And I always thought he was lovely and sweet and talented and dreamy.”

She went on to say that the duo “had very different lives for decades, and then, in some crazy way, found each other again.”

Hunt Opened Up About Rejecting Hollywood’s Ridiculous Beauty Standards

An open critic of Hollywood’s ridiculous beauty standards, Hunt frequently posts bare-faced photos of herself on social media to embrace the power of aging naturally. A few months ago, she was in Europe at the Basílica de la Sagrada Família in Barcelona, peering into the camera in a fun selfie and smiling with the Basilica, which is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world, sitting behind her.

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In an interview, she spoke about how she got to the point when she stopped trying to meet the standards of the entertainment industry.

“It felt impossible not to internalize the way you’re supposed to look,” Hunt shared with Flow Space about the ’90s and early aughts. “And [there was] a certain amount of misery and shame around not looking exactly that way.”

At some point, however, “I realized, ‘This could quietly ruin your whole life,’” Hunt continued. “I made a decision: I’m not playing. Not gonna [let it] take up a lot of space in my mind.”

Hunt said she credits the book, The Only Diet There Is, by Sondra Ray, as something that helped her develop a healthy relationship with food in a time when celebrities are constantly body-shamed.

“What I took from it,” she added, “is eat what you want and love every bite, period.”

Related: ‘Mad About You’ Star Helen Hunt, 62, Is Absolutely Gorgeous While Aging Naturally in New Travel Selfie