Kirk Cameron Quickly Proposed due to Mom — He Helps Wife of 31 Years with Tasks to Have More Alone Time with Her

• Kirk Cameron was "nervous" about his first date with his wife, Chelsea Noble.
• His mom encouraged him not to let go of someone like Noble, and he asked the actress to marry him. They have been married for 31 years.
• Cameron has a busy life with his family of eight.

Actor Kirk Cameron is a former child star who rose to prominence playing Mike Seaver on the 1985 ABC sitcom, "Growing Pains," which stopped airing in 1992.

Cameron was only 16 when he became a teen idol and his team at the time received nearly 2000 letters a day from his die-hard fans— some of them critical of him.

However, only one letter from a young girl in Singapore stood out from the rest because it branded him as a playboy. It read: "I think you are a playboy and hops [sic] from one girl to another. You must have done it with many blond girls. It is not uncommon in America because all the stars are like that. I think you stink."

Then editor of Tiger Beat magazine told People in December 1986 that they received countless "mail" about the rising star, adding Cameron's fame gained momentum unexpectedly:

"He sort of snuck up on us in popularity."

Through his acting gig on "Growing Pains," young Cameron met his future wife, Chelsea Noble, who played Kate MacDonald, his love interest, but he would soon fall in love with her off-screen. In August 2018, he reminisced about the early stages of their relationship:

"One moment I'll never forget is when I first asked Chelsea out on a date. I was so nervous to do this."

The two-time Golden Globe nominee revealed he and the actress had a "mud pie" at a restaurant and enjoyed quality time together on their first outing.

How Cameron Knew Noble Was the One

Cameron recounted the minute he knew that he would marry Noble one day. He gushed about her beauty and said it was both outward and inward; hence he decided to act on it fast:

"I thought to myself, 'When you meet someone like this, someone who is so beautiful, and even more beautiful on the inside than she is on the outside, I need to be quick on the draw and ask her to be my wife."

Cameron initially met Noble while visiting the set of "Full House," where his younger sister, actress Candace Cameron-Bure, played DJ Tanner. Noble was visiting a friend on the same set while he was there.

When he got home, his mother asked if he remembered the young girl he had met on the set. "How could I forget – she was beautiful and sweet and amazing," he replied, and his mom responded:

"Well, she's even more beautiful on the inside than she is on the outside. She's been here for a few days, and I just want you to know that if you ever meet a girl and you get married, I hope she's someone like her."

It appears that conversation nudged Cameron in the right direction as he and Noble walked down the aisle "four years later," and they have been married ever since.

The lovebirds wed in 1991 and have been husband and wife for over 30 years. They welcomed six kids together: daughters Anna, Isabella, and Olivia, and sons James, Luke, and Jack, four of whom are adopted. Cameron spoke fondly of his family once:

"Our family is pretty diverse. We have a ballerina, a couple of soccer players and a basketball player, and a video technician, and you have this crazy actor, me, and my beautiful wife who loves being a mom more than anything else in the world."

Cameron also spoke proudly of the mother of his kids in November 2022, saying that although "Growing Pains" helped him "launch" his acting career, meeting Noble was the highlight of that era:

“[...] To meet my wife, a woman of character and faith, beautiful on the inside, just as she is on the outside, in Hollywood, California? That's a rare thing."

The Couple's Marital & Family Life

When asked what he had learned after being married for so many years, Cameron joked, "Your wife is always right," before sharing that the institution of marriage teaches one "how to become more like Jesus," especially if they believe in God.

He added that each party in matrimony needs to learn they are there "to serve" their partners instead of their selfish reasons. "Marriage is where the gospel is everything and you learn to live and love like Jesus or you’re done," said the Evangelist.

Cameron said he has also learned to put his wife first, a "strong" Italian Catholic. "I've learned that I have this wonderful, priceless treasure in my wife, and she deserves something much better than me, and I want to become that guy that can live up to what she deserves."

As the couple raised their brood over the years, all a year apart, they faced some difficulties. Their children had different schedules, and Cameron traveled most of the time, leading them to drift apart.

Once he and his wife realized where they had ended up, they began having Tuesday morning breakfasts together, which has worked wonders for the two. They would stare at each other across the table for about an hour, the mom of six recalled in June 2016:

"We'd have breakfast together, and it was amazing. [...] Kirk and I love to talk to each other."

The Hollywood pair even escaped to their guesthouse in their backyard for some alone time and conversation while the kids read and watched TV. The doting dad once revealed it was hard to have consistent date nights on Fridays because finding a babysitter for six children was no easy feat then.

Noble added that once they found time to bond, their kids became their common topic of discussion, which was okay with them. Cameron further explained that couples need to have at least a few minutes of their time in a day to reset because if they wait until a family outing, it will turn out to be a recipe for disaster. Thus:

"I put the remote and newspaper down and just ask, ‘How are you? What’s going on? What are you thinking about?’"

One of Cameron's biggest takeaways from his marriage is being attentive to Noble's needs and concerns. He asks his beloved spouse daily what she plans on doing for the day and how he could assist her.

He makes a list of it, and it becomes a top priority and eventually gets them done. In this way, they can have more free time to spend together.

That said, the "Lifemark" star encourages husbands to "go to school" and study their wives and for the wives to do the same for their spouses.

Apart from being a devoted husband who is intentional about things, the father of six is also an attentive parent and has his kids' best interests at heart. Though Cameron grew up as a Hollywood star, he does not wish the same for his sons and daughters.

The Los Angeles native does not believe that "growing up in the entertainment industry is the healthiest place for kids," which has become evident over the years, he said in September 2008.

That is not to say that Cameron is against his children pursuing careers in show business, as one of his daughters, Anna, had shown interest in the performing arts at the age of 10. Anna is one of the four kids Cameron and Noble adopted, along with Isabella, Luke and Jack. Their dad once admitted:

"I forget who's adopted and who's not."

The "Like Father Like Son" star thinks highly of his offspring and once said that he cares more about what they think of him than what the media reports about him.