How Michael Caine Met His Wife Shakira

Sir Michael Caine has been married to actress and model Shakira Baksh for five decades now, but many fans aren’t familiar with their love story. Caine was married once before and has a star-studded dating history, but his romance with Baksh is like something straight out of a movie. Here’s a break-down of their meet-cute and their marriage.

Caine was married to actress Patricia Haines from 1954 to 1958 and had one daughter with her. In the years after that, he dated stars including Nancy Sinatra, Natalie Wood, Candice Bergen and Bianca Jagger. However, his days as a bachelor ended unexpectedly one day in 1971 when he saw a Maxwell House coffee commercial on TV. Baksh was the star of the ad, and Caine would later tell The Telegraph that she was “the most beautiful [woman] he had ever seen.” He decided that he must track her down and meet her.

Caine was prepared to do whatever it took to connect with Baksh even without the aid of social media. He told The Mirror that he believed Baksh was in Brazil, and he was preparing to fly there to look her up. However, he spoke to a friend in the advertising industry who also happened to know Baksh. He learned that she lived right in London, only about a mile away from Caine. The friend also gave Caine Baksh’s phone number.

Caine called Baksh more than once with overtures for a date before she finally agreed to meet him. The two began dating and things moved fast. They got married in Las Vegas on Jan. 8, 1973, and Baksh became Lady Shakira Caine. They have a daughter named Natasha Haleema, and Caine continues to practice Christianity while Shakira practices Islam.

Shakira is Guyanese and was a Miss World pageant finalist before she got into acting. When she and Caine began dating she was 24 years old while he was 38, so their age difference might have been more prominent back then. Today, Caine is 90 years old while Shakira is 76.

Caine and Shakira gave several interviews about their long-lived marriage in the last decade while celebrating their 40th anniversary. Caine credited Shakira with helping him overcome some bad habits including smoking cigarettes and drinking heavily, although he did not seek treatment for alcoholism and still enjoys a glass of wine with dinner. He said that the secret to their happiness is taking frequent “honeymoons” – mostly long weekend trips to Paris whenever they have time.

“She’s my right-hand man, my confidante,” Caine said. “I tell her everything. I was famous when I met her, but I couldn’t have got this far without her.”