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Chevy Chase and his wife Jayni have been married for 43 years
In a new PEOPLE interview, he says Jayni is the most honest woman he's ever met — and also the most beautiful
The comedian discusses his life, career and greatest love in the new CNN documentary I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not
Throughout his 50 years as a comedic actor,Chevy Chasehas had plenty of professional ups and downs.
In the new CNN documentaryI'm Chevy Chase and You're Not, he reveals a much deeper (and at times darker) personal side. However, in the film and in a new PEOPLE interview, he discusses his more triumphant personal life. Chase, 82, is still madly in love with hiswife Jayni, 67, a former production coordinator whom he met on the set of 1981'sUnder the Rainbowand married in 1982.
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"She's the most honest woman I've ever met," Chase tells PEOPLE of Jayni, who he says is "the love of my life" in the documentary.
"She's also the most beautiful. I love the smell of her neck," he continues. "When she's doing dishes, I'll say, 'I'm coming, honey!' and come kiss the back of her neck."
Jayni feels the same: "He's adorable," she says of her husband. "He's hard to stay mad at. He's also not Mr. Macho. I'm a strong woman, and I believe it takes a special man to be with a strong woman."
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In a 1990 Barbara Walters special, Jayni recounted how they fell in love.
"He flirted with me and pursued me, but I didn't take it seriously," she said. "Then, one day, I made a rather-flip remark to him, and I looked and saw that he was hurt by it. And I looked in those brown eyes, and I said, 'Oh, I think there's a nice guy there.' And there is."
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The other part of Chase's softer side? His absolute love of being a dad and grandad,
"It's what I'm proudest of," he says of daughters Cydney, 43, Caley, 40, and Emily, 37, and Emily's daughter Ivy. (Emily is currently expecting her second child.)
In 1983, after the birth of Cydney, Chase told PEOPLE, "When Cyd came out, and I saw it was a girl,I was in love immediately. I cut the umbilical cord, and I held her for the first hour. She seemed to know my voice because, of course, I had been singing and talking to her through the belly for nine months."
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Like Chase, an accomplished musician who can play multiple instruments by ear (and early in his career was in a band with musicians who later formed Steely Dan), his daughters all play piano.
"My father was very much part of my life," Chase says of learning about parenting from his dad, while often being physically beaten by his stepfather and mother.
"He always made funny faces to make my brother and I laugh," Chase says of his own dad.
He says granddaughter Ivy is the one who cracks him up the most now: "And she's only 1 1/2! It's a great thing in life to laugh and to make people laugh. It relaxes people. It's a release."
For more on Chevy Chase, pick up the newest issue of PEOPLE, on stands now.
Read the original article onPeople
