
BEVERLY HILLS, CA - FEBRUARY 11: Actor Chuck Norris and wife Gena O'Kelley attend the 17th Annual Movieguide Faith and Values Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 11, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Vince Bucci/WireImage)
Chuck Norris and wife Gena O’Kelley just celebrated their 26th anniversary and he can honestly say that it’s been a bed of roses, and he wants 2025 to be their most special year ever.
“As Chuck’s friends know, he’s completely devoted to Gena. She has been a beacon of light for him, corny but true,” a source exclusively tells Closer. “She’s been an amazing wife, supporting him in his nonprofit work, keeping him calm. He might say she’s the steel in his backbone. She’s been an amazing mother to their twins, Dakota and Danilee.”
The insider continues, “Chuck and Gena do everything together. They’ll take off for a weekend into the woods to camp by the river and fish for their dinner and get to know nature and themselves better. Plus, he pampers her with gifts and affection.”
The source adds that Chuck, 84, has “been putting Gena front and center and making sure she’s happy from day one, and it shows.”
“He thought he might lose her when she became very ill a few years ago after what they said was poisoning from an MRI, but she recovered and they’re cherishing every day together,” the insider explains.
In 2017, Chuck and Gena, 61, filed a lawsuit in the San Francisco Superior Court and alleged that the gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) used for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans poisoned her. The couple sued 11 healthcare companies and claimed that Gena felt like her “whole body was on fire” just a few hours after they injected her with the chemical needed for the scan, per Express. They also alleged that the side effects from the MRI left her with “severe brain damage.”
“It’s like somebody’s poured acid on your tissues, and I just had this extreme burning that was happening,” Gena said during a November 2017 interview with CBS News.
While Gena claimed that she asked if she could complete the MRI scan in one visit, the doctors told her no. The mom of two said that she then inquired about receiving multiple injections of the GBCAs and if it was “safe” and she was assured that it was. However, in the lawsuit, the couple alleged that Gena had suffered from Gadolinium Deposition Disease and claimed that, along with the burning pain, it caused violent shaking, confusion and kidney damage.
“It was scaring me to death,” the former Walker, Texas Ranger star said during the same interview with CBS News. “I said, ‘Nothing’s going on here. She’s dying. She’s dying right in front of me.’”
Chuck later spoke to Good Health about his wife’s ailments, per Express, and revealed, “I’ve given up my film career to concentrate on Gena, my whole life right now is about keeping her alive. I believe this issue is so important.”
Chuck and Gena originally asked for $10 million in damages from the companies that manufacture the chemical and said they should have been warned of the risks before taking the injections. However, in 2020, Gena and Chuck dismissed their lawsuit against the gadolinium manufacturers, but the reasons for the dismissal were never publicly disclosed.