Patrick Stewart Says His Life Is 'Perpetually Interesting' Thanks to His Wife Sunny Ozell

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Patrick Stewart says his wife of nearly 10 years, singer Sunny Ozell, keeps him on his toes.

"I've never met anyone like her before," the Star Trek actor, 81, tells PEOPLE in this week's issue. "She is so smart and so informed. And her intellectual accomplishments are extraordinary. She remembers everything."

Stewart and Ozell, 43, first met in 2008 while he was starring in a year-long stage production of Macbeth.

"She was working as a waitress in a restaurant in Brooklyn," he recalls. "This lovely woman came over and said, 'Gentleman, on the house, what would you like for desserts?' We got talking and she told me how much she'd wanted to see Macbeth, but it had been sold out. The Brooklyn run, which was only three or four weeks, sold out before we opened."

Stewart adds, "And I said, 'Well, we're going to Broadway next.' It was the only time in my life I've given someone my telephone number and said, 'Call me, I can get a ticket.' And that's what we did. And she came backstage afterward and we had dinner and here we are.

The pair wed in September 2013 with Stewart's longtime friend Ian McKellan officiating their ceremony.

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As they approach nearly a decade of marriage, Stewart, who reprised his iconic Captain Jean-Luc Picard character in the 2020 Paramount+ series Star Trek: Picard, says he's enjoying every moment with Ozell.

"I thought I'd be retired [by now]," he says. "It just hasn't happened."

At some point, though, he and Ozell plan to "go somewhere and just sort of shut down," he says. "I'm looking forward to it very much. Although, my wife believes I'll tolerate it for about two weeks. Then I'll be calling my agent."

Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard premieres March 3 on Paramount+.