EMMERDALE star Maxwell Caulfield had a turbulent love life as cheating Mark Wylde in the soap.

But offscreen, things were far less dramatic, with the actor celebrating 40 years of marriage to actress Juliet Mills, who is 18 years his senior.

Maxwell, 61, and Juliet, 79, got married in 1980, two years before he bagged the leading role in the movie Grease 2.

Their age gap is thought to have raised eyebrows at the time as he was 21 and she was around 39.

But Juliet insisted: "Everybody is always interested in the fact that I am married to someone who is a lot younger than I am...

"There are no rules, and that's what I believe, because age doesn't really matter. If you meet someone that you're really close to, someone that you love, stick with that."

Juliet is the eldest daughter of renowned English actor Sir John Mills, whose movie career spanned seven decades.

Her mum's side of the family is no less famous as her mother is playwright and novelist Mary Hayley Bell.

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She wrote the 1959 novel Whistle Down the Wind, the film adaptation of which her daughter starred in.

She also had a long career on stage and the small screen, including appearing as Juliet in ITV's Wild At Heart.

Well known to US audiences, she has won an Emmy Award and been nominated for Golden Globes and a Tony.

Maxwell, 61, who has starred in everything from Modern Family to Holby City, bowed out of Emmerdale in 2010.

Discovered to have been cheating in the soap by his screen wife Nastaha, played by Amanda Donohoe, she blasted him with a shotgun, killing him instantly.

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