The love story of Richard Lewis and Joyce Lapinsky dates back over two decades. A previous 2010 interview with Lewis and Pop Culture Classics revealed that mutual friends initially tried to set them up when Lewis was still on his "Anything But Love" sitcom in the early '90s, to which she then said: "No, he's crazy. I'm not going out with him" (via ET). But the timing would work out later as Lewis also recalled to the outlet: "I was able to commit to somebody finally," he said. "I met the right woman at the right time. There's a lot of compromise in any relationship. But it's easier to compromise at 60 than it is at 25."
When Lewis and Lapinsky later met at an album release party hosted by Beatles alum Ringo Starr, they hit it off. "It triggered what she calls 'the snake dance.' I might as well have been a 9-year-old. I was putting on a show for this woman," Lewis recalled their first interaction in an interview with Observer in 2007. Soon enough, the two began dating, and by the mid-2000s, they were ready to tie the knot.
Lapinsky and Lewis married in 2005, remaining happily together until his death.
