Who Is John McCook’s Wife? All About Laurette Spang and Her Marriage to The Bold and the Beautiful Star

John McCook’s character on The Bold and the Beautiful, Eric Forrester, has walked down the aisle 10 times — but in real life, the actor has been married to wife Laurette Spang for over four decades.

“We’re very proud and very happy people,” McCook told Soap Opera Digest in 2007. “We’ve been very lucky, but we’ve worked hard at it. It’s taken a lot of effort.”

He’s a soap opera star who’s one of the two longest-running stars on The Bold and the Beautiful. She was in the original Battlestar Galactica, one of the seminal sci-fi series of all-time. The couple married on Feb. 16, 1980, and have three children together: Jake, Rebecca and Molly.

“I know how hard it is for people to be together for years and years,” McCook explained to the outlet. “It’s a challenge, so I respect anybody who’s in a relationship and works at it and makes it a priority.”

Forty-four years later, the couple are still going strong. In November 2023, Spang posted a photo of the family on Instagram, captioning it, “Grateful for so much. My cup runneth over.🙏♥️.”

So who is John McCook's wife? Here's everything to know about Laurette Spang and her relationship with the actor.

She had early aspirations of being an actress

Laurette Spang was born on May 16, 1951, in Buffalo, N.Y., but grew up in Ann Arbor, Mich. She briefly attended college but was more interested in acting and was accepted into the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.

She later moved to Los Angeles when she was scouted by Universal and offered a contract, which lasted two years. Despite her education and experience, she struggled to get work afterward.

“I hit the unemployment lines in 1976 and was evicted from my apartment,” Spang told PEOPLE in 1978. “Finally I started getting some TV, and then Galactica came along.”

Spang had a role on Battlestar Galactica

From 1978 to 1979, Spang played Cassiopeia on Battlestar Galactica, a sci-fi show set in outer space.

Although the show only lasted for a season (and a mini-series), it has a fervent fandom to this day and inspired a 2004 reboot that ran for four seasons.

She made appearances on other iconic TV shows

Spang’s most famous role was on Battlestar Galactica, but she also appeared on some of the most memorable shows from the 1970s and 1980s.

Her résumé includes guest spots on The Love Boat, Magnum P.I. and Three’s Company. The actress also had a recurring role on Happy Days.

In September 2015, Spang posted a photo of her on the latter show on Instagram, captioning it, “Happy Days. I was Richie's girl Arlene on the prom episode.”

McCook and Spang knew early on they wanted to get married

In 2007, Soap Opera Digest asked McCook whether it was love at first sight for the couple.

“Yeah, pretty much,” he said. “I had been through a marriage before. Laurette had not, but we were both really ready to commit to this thing."

McCook continued, "We came to a place where we thought we would be terrific together. We decided to fall in love.”

In 2024, McCook was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for The Bold and the Beautiful and Spang attended the ceremony with him, where she received a heartfelt shout-out.

“My sweet Laurette, my wonderful wife [is] with me everywhere and for everything,” he said.

They have three children together

The couple married in 1980, and quickly started their family: Jake McCook was born in 1981, Rebecca McCook was born in 1983 and Molly McCook was born in 1990.

McCook had previously been married twice and had a son, Seth McCook, in 1972.

The family is close and often spends time together. On Mother’s Day, Spang posted a photo of McCook at the grill on Instagram.

She chose to step back from acting to raise their kids

After appearing in a 1984 episode of Magnum P.I., Spang decided to stop acting to stay home with their infant daughter and pre-school-aged son.

Talking to Soap Opera Digest in 2007, McCook explained her decision.

“When Laurette was pregnant with Jake, our first baby, she didn’t want to work anymore,” he said. “The lucky thing is that I worked enough that she didn’t have to, and that’s the way it’s been all these years."

McCook continued, "She has taken great pride in her skill as a mom and as a wife and as a homemaker. At the time, she knows that she did do what she did, which is leave high school and go to the American Academy in New York and come out here and do a lot of television. She accomplished a great deal."

He has also expressed admiration for her choice to step away from the spotlight.

"I found that to be an amazing decision," McCook told The Sun-Sentinel in 1991. "It is one that she has never tossed back at my face. Also, her having guested on almost every episodic show, she truly felt there was more that she wanted."

She’s an audiobook narrator

Although she has largely stepped away from acting, Spang lent her voice to a series of audiobooks in 2021.

She played roles on the audio recordings of three books in the Saga of a Fugitive Fleet series by Daniel Earnshaw, sci-fi fantasy stories set in space.