Ted Danson admits he can be a ‘d--k,’ says wife Mary Steenburgen compares him to a ‘junkyard dog’

Ted Danson admits he isn't always the nice guy he portrays himself as.

During a recent episode of his podcast, "Where Everybody Knows Your Name," the 78-year-old actor admitted to his guest, actor Don Cheadle, that he is a "dick."

"My go-to is nice guy. My go-to is wanting to be nurturing and loving and kind and all that stuff. It really is," he said. "But I'm a d--k. I can be a mean a--hole, but I've only discovered that later in life because I was trained to be very sensitive."

Having always thought of himself as a nice guy, Danson was surprised when his wife of more than 30 years, actress Mary Steenburgen, challenged that self-image.

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"She said, 'You are as mean as a junkyard dog,' and it was the first time I'd heard that phrase and I thought it was so silly to be said about me," he said. "I luckily have grown and developed with my relationship with Mary to realize, 'Oh yeah, I do have that,' which is a wonderful thing to know that you are both."

The actor became a household name when he landed the role of Sam Malone on the hit sitcom, "Cheers," which won him two Emmy Awards and multiple Golden Globe Awards.

After his run on the show, Danson starred in many successful films, later introducing himself to a younger audience in "The Good Place," in which he played a demon who developed a conscience and turned good. He is currently starring as a spy in the Netflix series, "Man on the Inside."

Steenburgen joined the season two cast of the Netflix show as Danson's character's love interest. Steenburgen told People in November 2025 that when she found out she had landed the role, "there was a lot of screaming and jumping up and down ... because we were so excited to work together."

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"We’re both actors," Danson told the outlet. "We were trained the same way. We had some really good material to work with. We'd get up every morning giggling about what we get to do."

The couple met in 1993 while on set of the movie "Pontiac Moon" and quickly became one of Hollywood's most-loved couples. They went on to get married in October 1995 in a ceremony on Martha's Vineyard.

When speaking about their relationship to People in February 2021, Danson explained he knew he had to propose to her because he "couldn't imagine not being with her at all times."

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"Not to sound corny, but I would sign up for 100 more lifetimes," Steenburgen told the outlet. "He makes me a better person. He's a truly beautiful human being. A great big soul. I love how he sees the world and how he cares about people, and he's deeply hilarious, which is super, super sexy to me and he smells really nice."

In addition to starring together in "Pontiac Moon" and "Man on the Inside," the couple has appeared together on-screen in "Gulliver's Travels," "Ink," "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and other projects.