Patrick Duffy and Linda Purl’s Friends ‘Would Like to See’ the Couple Get Engaged in the New Year

Patrick Duffy and Linda Purl are more in love than ever moving into 2025, and a source exclusively tells Closer that pals think an engagement can’t be far away. In fact, the insider says Patrick’s friends are encouraging him to propose.

“Their friends think they’re so perfect for one another and would like to see Patrick propose because Linda would say yes, no doubt about it,” the source reveals. “Patrick and Linda try not to be formal but ultimately, they’re traditional at heart.”

The insider adds that the Dallas star, 75, and Happy Days actress, 69, are “soulmates and do everything together.”

“It’s been such a wonderful love story. They share the same interests and love to travel and experience new things and can’t bear to be apart,” the source continues. “Patrick and Linda seem to be going with the flow right now, but their friends feel it’s time to make it official and hope it happens in the new year.”

Patrick and Linda were casual friends years before their romance began, but they lost touch until a group text brought them back into each other’s lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. The couple started dating in 2020 after texting each other one-on-one.

“I loaded up my car and drove 20 hours and ended up on her doorstep just to see if it was real,” Patrick shared with People in November 2020. “We haven’t been apart since.”

Before his relationship with Linda began, Patrick was married to Carlyn Rosser from 1974 until her death in 2017. He told Page Six that his romance with Linda, who has also been married and divorced four times, was a “do-again” instead of a “do-over.”

“We’re not covering any ground that has not been trodden in both our lives for years and years,” he explained in November 2020. “For me, it’s not a do-over, it’s a do-again … because the first one was perfect and this one is also perfect. We get a do-again, but we’re not teenagers, so we kind of enter it knowing what’s expected and what to give and to respect each other’s history and individualism.”

Patrick concluded, “It’s worked out. I can’t tell you how happy I am.”

Though the last four years have been blissful for Patrick and Linda, the couple has said that they don’t necessarily feel the need to be married on paper.

“In many ways, we already feel married,” Linda exclusively told Closer in September.

Patrick added, “To me, I want to earn this relationship on a daily basis and continue to care, provide and honor her. These days, there are very few drawbacks to not being married.”

Of building their life together, Linda said, “The coming-together is easier now. We’re not building our careers. We’re not still trying to figure out what our real interests, desires and values are. Those are, for better or worse, already established.”

Patrick chimed in, “There were not many surprises. Blending our lives together was 90 percent seamless. People say this all the time, but it felt like we’d been together 40 years.”