He really took the plunge there! Twenty-seven years ago, Emmy Award-winning actor Bryan Cranston proposed to his wife, Robin Dearden, in a bathtub. The Breaking Bad star recalled the sweet proposal story on 60 Minutes this weekend with his wife by his side — and they even played out the adorably awkward moment.
“If I were to face her and propose to her, I couldn’t get through it; I’d start crying,” Cranston, 60, told Steve Kroft while his wife, 62, giggled beside him. “So, I have to figure out some way where she’s not looking at me.”
The Malcolm in the Middle actor and director found inspiration one day while showering. He decided he’d ask Dearden to take a bath on New Year’s Day, except his bathtub proposal posed one problem: Where would he hide the ring since he’d be devoid of clothing?
“I squeezed it on my baby toe,” the Seinfeld alum recalled of the comical moment, “and I dipped it into the water so she wouldn’t see.”
Cranston’s plan to avoid an emotional meltdown was perfect, as there was no way Dearden could face him in the tub. “The only way we could fit was with me facing the wall,” his wife explained.
Sitting with her back to Cranston, Dearden was confused by his awkwardness as he tried to work up the courage to pop the question.
“I’m thinking, ‘What the hell is this?'” she reminisced as the spouses laughed at the memorable moment.
During the interview, Cranston instructed his wife to turn away from him so they could replay the awkward proposal. The actor explained how when he told Dearden he loved her, she tried to look back at him. Unfortunately, he moved her head back so she was looking straight ahead.
“I push her head back, because I’m not done,” he laughed. “I’m barely holding on.”
Cranston then explained that he lifted his foot out of the water and told Dearden, “Here’s your ring, but I can’t reach it. Take the ring off my toe.”
Snuggling up to her husband and laughing, Dearden jokingly recalled: “It was so romantic.”
Cranston – who is the executive producer for the new Amazon Prime drama, Sneaky Pete – met Dearden on a 1980s television series entitled, Airwolf, in a scene where his character held her hostage.
Dearden shared that Cranston was one of the funniest people she had ever met, but at the time both parties were dating other people. When they kissed each other hello at an improv class several months later, the actors were both smitten.
The couple married on July 3, 1989, and their daughter, Taylor, was born four years later.
