Jamie Lee Curtis believes that "life hinges on a couple of seconds you never see coming," and her 36-year marriage is living proof of it.
The actor shared that quote, which comes from a 2006 book called "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" by Marisha Pessl, as part of TODAY's "Quoted By...with Hoda" series.
Curtis, 62, described how a few unpredictable moments led to her eventual marriage to actor and director Christopher Guest.
"And by the way, I met my husband by seeing his picture in a magazine and saying out loud to a friend of mine, 'I'm going to marry that dude,' and married him four months later," Curtis told Hoda. "So the truth of the matter is life hinged for me on a couple seconds that I didn't see coming."
Curtis and Guest tied the knot in 1984 after a whirlwind romance and have since gone on to raise two children together. A love that has lasted for decades was born out of a happenstance moment of Curtis looking at a magazine.
"And for me, it really speaks to me about all the time I spend in my head about the what-ifs and children and health and work and money and creativity and life's purpose, and the truth of the matter is that our lives do hinge on a couple seconds that we don't see coming," she said. "And what we do in those seconds ultimately determines the rest of our lives."
Curtis has also learned in her 22 years of sobriety from drug and alcohol addiction that everything is not always going to go as planned no matter how hard you prepare yourself for it.
"And so what are we preparing for, really?" she said. "Because life is gonna happen. You know the term 'blank happens,' well, life happens.
"In recovery we say 'life on life's terms.' Not my terms, not your terms, life's terms. So I like the idea of life hinging on seconds I don't see coming because it means I just have to stay open for whatever comes."
Curtis also spoke with Hoda and Jenna Bush Hager on TODAY earlier this month about what she has learned from her struggles with addiction.
"Struggle is part of the human existence," she said. “And what I can tell you is that if you feel that you have a problem with drugs or alcohol or addiction — or overeating or the myriad ways that you can harm yourself — there are support groups available. We are stronger together.
"It is usually a recovery program where people can relate to you and you can relate to them and that’s how healing begins because if we are only as sick as our secrets and you share your secrets, all the sudden you are liberated because you’re not walking around with the shame spiral and you can actually do something about it and there are millions of people around the world whole will help you."