Ray Romano reflects on 35 years with wife Anna, talks new film 'Somewhere in Queens'
After 35 years of marriage, Ray Romano says nobody supports him like his wife Anna Romano.
"Today when I left very early, I went over and kissed my wife. I thought she was asleep and as I'm walking out the door all I hear is, 'Don't say anything stupid,'" he joked Wednesday on "Good Morning America."
The couple, who married in 1987, now have four children together -- and Ray Romano said he credits his wife for seeing something in him before he was famous.
"We met as bank tellers here in Queens," he reminisced. "I was living at home -- I lived at home until I was 29. I was not a catch, you know? I give her credit cause she married me before any of this happened."
"I would write funny poems to the girls there, and she was the only one who paid attention, really," he continued. "I would ride my bike to work. I don't know what she saw in me."
Ray Romano also told "GMA" it was his youngest son Joseph Romano who inspired him to write, direct and star in his new film "Somewhere in Queens" -- his directorial debut -- in theaters this Friday.
"When I decided to write a script, I knew I wanted it to be about my hometown of Queens and the people I grew up with," he said. "I didn't know the story."
The comedian said it was Joseph Romano, who he said is 6 feet 5 inches tall and played high school basketball, that gave him the spark of an idea for the script.
"When it was ending, we knew he wasn't going to continue to play -- it got very emotional for me. I loved sharing that with my son and, if I'm being honest, I loved being the father of the star basketball player," Ray Romano recalled.
He added, "I loved the attention. As sad and pathetic ... I didn't get enough attention? I came from a TV show and then I needed more attention."
"The idea was, what if this was about a guy who that's all he had?" Ray Romano continued, turning back to the film. "He felt very small and very insignificant and he lived vicariously through his son and it was ending. That was the starting point of this story."
He also reflected on his iconic sitcom, "Everybody Loves Raymond," which premiered 27 years ago this September.
Of the show, which won him an Emmy, he said it feels "crazy" that it premiered so long ago, adding that it "feels like another lifetime."
