Bono's #1 Secret to Health and Longevity
We're here to share a pretty cool celeb scoop. At 62, Bono knows a top secret to health and longevity: Succeeding at marriage for a beautiful 40 years. According to PEOPLE, Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson, met while both attending Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin, Ireland when he was just 12 years old. It's clear Paul David Hewson—aka Bono—and Ali Hewson have much to be happy about as they celebrate the big 40 as a couple.
The lead singer of U2 revealed in a New Yorker Festival interview, according to PEOPLE, "It is a grand madness about us," adding, "And there's something about knowing that you're going against the odds. But I would say if you ask me seriously, friendship can outpace romantic love, sometimes. And friendship is what myself and Ali have. When you have romantic love and friendship, that's really something special." This is the most inspiring couple news we've heard in a long time—especially regarding happy, successful marriages.
Marriage with the right person—as with the Hewsons—can be beautiful and also one of the most challenging things to navigate in a person's life. So much so that statistics back up Bono's "against the odds" comment, as from the 1970s to the 90s, divorce rates jumped throughout the world, according to Our World in Data. In 1960, there were 2.2 divorces for every 1,000 marriages in the United States. In the 1980s, it more than doubled to over five for every 1,000 marriages.
However, we're happy to report that the divorce rate has come down since then in many parts of the world. It could be contributed to the fact that, according to a 2019 study from the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of partners cohabitating almost multiplied by three in 20 years, skyrocketing from six million to a whopping 17 million. After all, it's said you don't really know someone until you live together!
A happy marriage is a healthy one.
According to Harvard Health Publishing, research conveys that married people—when compared to single individuals—typically live longer lives, experience fewer heart attacks and strokes, are at a lower risk of being depressed, have less of a chance to be diagnosed with advanced cancer when they find out, and usually have a better survival rate at major operations. So the way we see it is that Bono is really on to something good!
This rock and roll legend shared during the New Yorker Festival, according to PEOPLE, "Any time either of us got lost, the other would … be there to get the other one home. And I'm so grateful." He added, "And 40 years is a powerful number for me. That's a powerful number for Ali. And it was brilliant when we got to 40, and we went, 'Let's not f— this up now.'"
And just how powerful is the number 40? The musician, philanthropist, and activist wrote a book, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, which came out on November 1.
