Law And Order Star on Keeping his Marriage Fun and Drama-Free

Considering that the guy had disappeared back East for two years, how did she know he’d gotten serious? “There were two concrete steps in front of his house,” she says. “Chris had them cut out so I could get my cycle onto his lawn.”

His-and-her motorcycles. A struggling actor. A peripatetic set designer. Not the things that usually spell: Time to get married. “Yes, but underneath all of Sherman’s style, she’s very traditional,” Chris explains. On both sides, there was a common dream—a house with children.

But not right away. “Without a certain amount of money, there’s stress,” Chris says. “I know I’m definitely more relaxed with a couple of bucks in my pocket. So, in 1995, I didn’t feel I could establish a career as an actor and commit to kids at the same time.”

By the time they married, Chris was being pulled back East again. The newlyweds established a rule: no more than three weeks apart.

But commuting between his coast and hers frayed their nerves; they needed to be in the same place. Sherman loved Los Angeles. Chris, though born in Washington, D.C., loved the streets of New York more. “I need to say, ‘I am in New York City.’ I’m not a mystic, but I have a spiritual connection to New York,” he says. “This is where the shell fell off.”