Delta Burke’s Husband Didn't Turn Away from Her When She Could Barely Walk — He Has Stood by Her for 34 Years

• Delta Burke was a successful actress with many successful projects under her belt, but her best role will always be as a wife.
• Her husband Gerald McRaney also plays his own role brilliantly, standing by her through all the highs and lows of their lives.
• Their love has stood the test of time, and even when people advised McRaney not to marry Burke, he still did.

Delta Burke had humble beginnings as a beauty queen, hailing from Orlando, Florida. By the time she was 17, she already had 18 pageant titles under her belt.

In 1974, she was crowned Miss Florida. That same year, she competed in the Miss America pageant, where she won a talent scholarship.

She used the scholarship on a two-year program at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. She no longer continued her pageantry career and instead chose to shoot her shot in the entertainment industry. Within a month of coming home, she landed her first TV role.

Burke is remembered by many for her role as Suzanne Sugarbaker in "Designing Women." The show, which ran for seven seasons, allowed her to receive two Emmy nominations for Best Actress in a Comedy Series.

Years later, through her own production company, Perseverance, Inc., Burke produced the TV series "Delta," which she starred in as well. She also produced and starred in "Women of the House" in 1995, where she reprised her famous role as Suzanne Sugarbaker.

Nowadays, Burke has shied away from the industry. She has chosen to focus on her business, Delta Burke Design.

"Designing Women" didn't only bring Burke fame – it also brought her a lasting love through Gerald McRaney. He had a guest appearance on the show in the same timeline as when he was starring in his breakout series "Simon & Simon."

By their second date, McRaney had already asked for Burke's hand in marriage. Speaking about why his marriage proposal was so abrupt, McRaney said:

"I wasn't going to let her get away. I already had competition. There were people asking her out on dates, and I was going to move in right away."

McRaney proposed to Burke even when his friends told him not to. In fact, they told him never to marry an actress. "Why not?" he asked them.

He then continued to defend Burke to his friends, saying that fellow actors knew the chaos that came with being in the industry—at least Burke did. Every time he was on set and didn't contact her until 2 in the morning, she didn't take it against him because she knew it came with the job.

A Lifelong Love

Less than two years later, in 1989, Burke and McRaney got married. It was Burke's first marriage, but McRaney had been married twice before.

They proved all their doubters wrong and have remained married since. While they don't have any children together, McRaney had children from his previous relationships.

McRaney was with Burke through all the highs and lows of her life. She had to endure years of public ridicule over her apparent weight gain, but her husband was there to lean on in those dark times.

From her weight gain, to losing her grandmother and her beloved dog, and her mother being diagnosed with breast cancer, Burke was going through it all. However, she never lost her faith and hung on to her husband for much-needed support, and she got it.

"It didn't matter to him how fat I got. He reminds me what I should be doing or shouldn't be eating. He likes to give me my shots and says it makes him feel like he's taking care of me," she once shared.

Burke has struggled with her weight for years. Having been conscious about her weight since she was a teenager, she needed to keep her weight in check. At one point, she used any means possible to stay thin.

By the time "Designing Women" ended in 1991, she was at an all-time-high weight of 215 pounds. She said the intense weight gain she had over the duration of the show triggered her type 2 diabetes diagnosis.

There were also several times when Burke needed to use a wheelchair to move around. One was due to a freak accident in the bathroom, and another was for an undisclosed reason. Throughout these occasions, McRaney was right beside her to lend her all the support she needed.

Burke slowly lost weight through diet and exercise. However, she beat herself when she couldn't lose weight fast enough.

Over the years, she's learned to give herself credit for being able to maintain a certain weight. "I've bounced back from it all," she said.

McRaney credits the way they both are able to understand each other in ways nobody else can. They once renewed their vows, and Burke wrote that they embraced each other's "insanity." The actor agreed to that.

Throughout her blonde and brunette phase, through the weight gain, and all the ups and downs, she's proud to say that her husband loves her for all that she is.

With most of Burke's work now being off the air, she's been assigned as her actor husband's date in many red-carpet events. In 2017, she joked about surviving their first Emmy appearance together and how they were still together through the years.

She's glad to give her husband the same support he's given her through the years. Throughout her blonde phase and brunette phase, through the weight gain, and all the ups and downs, she's proud to say that her husband loves her for all that she is. "He loved me when I was as big as a house," she even said.

McRaney's career has been in full swing in the past couple of years. He was on "This Is Us" from 2016-2022 as a recurring guest star, and on "NCIS: Los Angeles" from 2014 to 2023 as Admiral Hollace Kilbride.

These are on top of his other roles, including in "Deadwood: The Movie" and "A Violent Separation" in 2019, "Shooter," "Santa Clarita Diet," and "A Million Little Things" in 2018, "House of Cards" from 2013-2017, and many more.

With the actor busy with his career, he is always relieved to come home to his wife after a day's work. After all these years, it's still her he sees as his home.