Lesley Stahl's Husband of 43 Years Aaron Latham Bravely Battles Parkinson's Disease — Meet the Journalist

Journalist and author Aaron Latham, who has been married to CBS News reporter Lesley Stahl for over four decades, has been dealing with Parkinson's disease for years.

Born to a long line of Texas Methodist in Spur, West Texas, Aaron is probably best known for co-writing the 1980 film "Urban Cowboy," starring John Travolta and Debra Winger.

Aaron's "worst symptoms" disappeared after having surgery.

AARON LATHAM'S CAREER

The screenplay for the movie was inspired by an article that Aaron wrote and released in 1978 for the Esquire Magazine. Apart from that, he co-wrote the book for the short-lived Broadway musical version of "Urban Cowboy," released in 2003.

Lesley Stahl's husband was a regular contributor to important magazines and newspapers, including Rolling Stone, Talk, and The New York Times.

Speaking of Aaron's love life, he and Lesley met back in 1973, when the author was searching for Watergate anecdotes for an article and was advised to contact the then-CBS rookie Lesley.

According to People, their first interaction didn't go as smoothly as they would have wished for. Initially, all he had in mind was completing his article, so he found Lesley's home number and called her.

LESLEY STAHL AND AARON'S ROMANCE

The "60 Minutes" show contributor reportedly didn't like that and was offended by the fact that he called directly to her house, so she lashed out and asked him to call her to her office instead.

Aaron then turned on the TV to see this Lesley Stahl journalist who had just hung up on him and was struck by her beauty the second he saw her. He supposedly said that his heart stopped and his mouth dried up after seeing her and even made him wonder: "What have I got myself into?"

Fortunately for the couple, Aaron became a New York's Watergate reporter for Esquire and had to meet with Lesley several times over the following years. As time passed by, things got romantic between them, which made Aaron move into her apartment.

In Christmas 1976, she got pregnant with the first and only child of the couple. However, she had no plans of having a child without being married, so they got married in 1977.

THE COUPLE'S DAUGHTER

Lesley Stahl's daughter, Taylor Latham, runs the luxury line of a wine-themed clothing company called Our Little Barrel. Years before Taylor and her husband, Andrew Major, laid their hands on the company, it belonged to Beatrice Foods.

The previous owner of the business, though, was none other than Louis Stahl, the late father of Lesley. Back when he was the owner, the company was called Stahl Finish.

Lesley revealed that if her father had asked her to be part of the business with him, she probably wouldn't have become a journalist. About Our Little Barrel, Taylor said:

"My grandfather owned his business at a time when you did not hand your business over to your daughter. So, he sold it."

AARON'S STRUGGLES WITH PARKINSON'S DISEASE

Coming back to Aaron's Parkinson's disease, it was the main subject in a piece that Lesley wrote in 2015 titled "Fighting Back Against Parkinson's – In the Ring."

In it, she mentioned a program called Rock Steady Boxing in which her husband and many other people dealing with the disease were involved.

The initiative was about teaching professional boxing techniques to Parkinson's patients, like Ozzy Osbourne, to reverse some of the symptoms. She made clear that boxing was not the cure for the degenerative disorder. However, people of the program "seem to improve."

Back in 2017, Lesley appeared on the "Rachel Ray Show" to share some exciting news about her husband's condition.

The journalist confessed that Aaron had got surgery called Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) that changed their lives. Before the medical procedure, he couldn't write down his name or button his shirt, but his "worst symptoms" disappeared after the surgery.

At the moment, Lesley Stahl and Aaron Latham are still married and going strong. She is still a CBS News contributor and recently revealed that she recovered from the novel coronavirus disease.