Ted Danson "wasn't fully emotionally baked" before he met his wife.

The 76-year-old actor married actress Mary Steenburgen, 71, in 1995 - two years after they struck up a relationship on the set of 'Pontiac Moon' - but insisted that things would not have developed properly had they met any earlier.

Asked if he thinks the pair would have worked out had they met earlier, he told People: "Guarantee you the answer is no. I'll just speak for myself. I was not really fully emotionally baked until shortly before I met Mary."

Prior to his relationship with Mary, the 'A Man on the Inside' star had been married to Randy Danson from 1970 until 1975, and then to Casey Coates from 1977 until 1993, with whom he was Kate, 44, as well as 39-year-old Alexis.

Ted had decided a year before he and the 'Melvin and Howard' actress actually became a romantic item that he wanted to become "more emotionally mature" and is convinced that had he not done that, he wouldn't have had a chance with Mary.

He said: "I had, about a year before, decided I want to become a more emotionally mature, honest human being. I worked very hard at it or I don't think Mary Steenburgen would've even seen me. So yeah. The answer is no. Thank God we didn't meet earlier.."

Ted also noted that whenever he suffers from any sort of self-esteem issues to do with his career, Mary is always there to pick him back up again.

He said: "Whenever I become self-deprecating, full of doubt, which I do on a regular basis, she lovingly goes, 'Snap out of it,' and kind of forces me out the door into turning the next corner in life."