Patrick Duffy and Linda Purl fell in love online
The actors revealed how COVID brought them together over Zoom calls.
Patrick Duffy is reprising his role as Stephen Logan for the 36th season of "The Bold and the Beautiful."
On Monday, People magazine reported that the former "Dallas" star will play the Logan family patriarch once more for a two-episode stint on the long-running CBS soap opera. The episodes will air on Nov. 23 and 28.
According to the outlet, the 73-year-old will be joined by his real-life girlfriend, Linda Purl, of "Happy Days" and "The Office" fame. The actress will play Duffy’s love interest on the show.
After Robert Pine played Logan from 1998 until 2001, Duffy joined the cast in 2006. He took on the character for five years until 2011.
Patrick Duffy starred in "The Bold and the Beautiful" from 2006 until 2011. (Cliff Lipson/CBS via Getty Images)
Duffy and Purl traveled in the same social circles for decades. They were part of a texting group created by Richard Thomas, also known as "John-Boy" from "The Waltons." As soon as COVID-19 lockdowns forced people to connect in different ways, Duffy and Purl discovered they had something special.
Both of the stars had been married before, and after hours of texts, phone calls and video chats, they knew they were ready for their next "great adventure" together as a couple.
Duffy was married for more than four decades to ballet dancer Carlyn Rosser before she died of cancer in 2017. Purl was married to Lucille Ball's son, Desi Arnaz, Jr., in 1979, and has one son with her ex-husband Alexander Cary.
Patrick Duffy is currently filming his episodes of "The Bold and the Beautiful." (Toni Anne Barson/WireImage)
Duffy told Fox News Digital they Zoomed "every single night for two to three hours for over two months."
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"Life had stopped," Purl, 67, told Fox News Digital. "We couldn't work, no one could see their friends. You couldn't go out. So, we were just in our respective homes and in this contemplative sort of pause. And had it not been for that pause, we never would have found or made the time to have conversations like that."
"I feel guilty because, well, everyone had their own ride in the pandemic and ours was… ours was this," she added.
Linda Purl connected with Patrick Duffy during the start of the coronavirus pandemic. A romance quickly blossomed with the help of technology. (Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)
After a few months of Zoom calls, they realized "this could be more than a friendship," and she recalled a conversation where they agreed, "When this thing ends in a year or so, let's get together."
"But then it was like, ‘Oh, this is turning a corner,’" she said. "And Patrick heroically got in his car and drove from Oregon to Colorado. We were both nervous as teenagers, but we've been together since."
Fox News Digital's Larry Fink and Tracy Wright contributed to this report.
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