‘Younger’ star Debi Mazar reveals the secret behind her 17-year marriage to chef Gabriele Corcos

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Debi Mazar has been married to Gabriele Corcos for 17 years — and the secret behind their lasting marriage in Hollywood is surprisingly simple.

“We’re just committed,” the 54-year-old recently told Closer Weekly. “We love each other, we have fun, we laugh. We fight, but we never go to bed mad. We try not to. We cook and we drink! We dance with great music, try to keep the house happy and always talk.”

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The “Younger” star admitted she was easily captivated by the celebrity chef when she first met him.

“We met in Florence [Italy],” Mazar recalled. “I had a friend named Katia Labeque, who performed at Madonna’s wedding to Guy Ritchie and she said, ‘Debi, you must come to see me!’ And when I did, he walked into the room, and I didn’t want to go back to New York or Los Angeles. I decided to shack up with him for the entire month of August. We fell madly in love.”

The couple tied the knot in 2002 and share two teenage daughters: Evelina, 17, and Guilia, 13. Mazar and Corcos have since received the James Beard Award for their hit Cooking Channel series and cookbook titled “Extra Virgin.”

And while Mazar has achieved fame in Hollywood since 1990’s “Goodfellas,” she said her true dream is to reside in Italy full time when she and her husband, 46, can further pursue their passions.

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“I’ve always been a gypsy, and we go back and forth all the time,” Mazar told the outlet. “We have a 12th-century home from my husband’s family in Fiesole, about 10 minutes north of Florence, with 150 acres and 20,000 olive trees. Wild boars run my property! I want to move sooner than later, while I’m still young enough to experience another profession. Is it painting? Tending to the fields? Getting animals?”

“I’ve been asked to write a book about my life,” Mazar continued. “I have a hard time sitting down to do so, but I’m trying. I’d like to create dishware, maybe stuff for the home like sheets or pottery. We’re trying to possibly open a hotel that has a cooking school. I have two daughters that I’m trying to push into college and high school, so I’m very busy also focusing on stuff with my kids. Balance is the biggest challenge for me.”

Still, Mazar has led a high-profile career and befriended other stars along the way, including Al Pacino, Steve Buscemi, as well as the one actor who made her nervous.

“He was a lot of fun,” said Mazar on working with Denzel Washington in 1992’s “Malcolm X.” “He was very real. I got to make out with him for the audition! We had to kiss, and that was nerve-wracking because he’s super handsome.”

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But one of the friendships Mazar treasures the most is the one she shares with Madonna. The two women became pals long before the pop star, 60, became known as the “Material Girl.” Mazar served as a backup dancer in 1982’s “Everybody” and would later make appearances in several of Madonna’s music videos over the years.

“When I met her, she wasn’t a star,” said Mazar. “She was having fun, trying to get a career going, and watching her explode into who she’s become was fascinating. She’s an incredible woman. We had a lot of fun running around the world together. We’ve seen each other through life, death, kids, husbands. She works really hard; she didn’t just get lucky.”

Back in 2016, Mazar told Fox News that if she could go back in time, she would have some advice for her younger self.

“If I could go back in time and change anything about my 20s, what would I do?” said Mazar. “I probably would have saved some of my money. I might have gotten some more sleep. I would have bought some real estate at the time because it was cheaper then. And I had some money because I started working early. But other than that, I wouldn’t change a thing.”