Chuck Norris ‘Lets His Sensitive and Sweet Side Take Over’ When at Home With Wife Gena and Twins

Chuck Norris continues to pump weights like a champ and defy his advanced years in the process – but a source exclusively tells Closer he’s a total softie when it comes to family, as he dotes on his twins and wife Gena O'Kelley while happily letting her call all the shots in their household.

“He comes across like this real tough guy, but when it comes to his family, Chuck’s the total opposite.” 

The Walker, Texas Ranger actor, 84, whose real name is Carlos Ray Norris, has an impressively macho resumé as a tournament-winning black belt in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and judo, U.S. Air Force veteran and founder of his own branch of martial arts, Chun Kuk Do.

The An Eye for an Eye actor is still up and active, recently appearing in a video posted on Instagram curling a barbell with weights – which appeared to total a whopping 540 pounds, on the outside, at least.

"Rumor has it when I finish my workout, the weights have to take a break, haha," he captioned the video.

"All kidding aside, I hope you all had a great summer and continue to have a wonderful rest of your year."

Tough guy Chuck only flashes his softer side occasionally, but, according to the source, he’s sans spice and just everything nice with wife of 25 years, Gena.

“It’s not that he’s henpecked, but for the most part he lives by the ‘happy wife, happy life’ motto, so he’d rather sit back and let Gena run the show,” the source dishes.

Gena, 61, played a small role alongside the martial artist in Walker, Texas Ranger, in 1997, catching Chuck’s eye. He asked her out the next day.

After their date, the veteran actor convinced her to come back out to Dallas, where they were filming the show, when their “friendship grew into a dating relationship,” he said. 

“Before long, I felt myself falling head over heels in love.”

They married a year later in November 1998, with Gena giving birth to twins in 2001: son Dakota and daughter Danilee.

The pair has been basically inseparable since, attending all sorts of events and shows together – wherever a master martial artist is required to go. 

Gena even currently serves as cochair of Chuck’s non-profit foundation, Kickstart Kids, which “offers high quality martial arts instruction during the school day to adolescents navigating the difficult middle school and high school years,” and “promotes community, achievement, healthy lifestyles and the foundation of character – discipline, responsibility, kindness, respect, courage, dedication, honesty, and loyalty.”

The insider continues: “He has this incredibly generous, loving nature and he gets real joy out of spoiling his wife and kids.”

“Chuck still has his macho side, but he saves that for the public and for his work, at home he lets his sensitive and sweet side take over and he doesn’t hide it,” the insider adds.

“Chuck takes real pride in proving that he can strike that balance between tough guy and pussycat.”