Miami Living Magazine

Harry Connick Jr

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Emmys, two Tony nominations, over 28-million albums sold, and multiple Billboard chart-topping hits – of course she'll appear on his show. With Harry, there is no trace of entitlement, he is the salt of the earth or what many of us deem "good people" –which, in my book, is the highest compliment one can receive. And I noticed that my sentiment is echoed by many who are close to him. "Good people, I think, raise good children," Sandra remarked during her reunion with Harry's daughter Georgia, while on his show. When Whoopi Goldberg was on HARRY, she gave this as the reason why she agreed to sing on his Christmas special years ago: "You're one of the great people in the world, and I love you." And if that isn't testament enough, Google his family's surprise appearance on HARRY, where daughters Kate and Georgia proudly call their dad their best friend. "He does everything for everyone else, he doesn't care about anything done for himself," said Georgia. Harry's wife, Jill, and daughters, Georgia, Charlotte, and Kate, have appeared on HARRY a few times now– though there's no pressure on them to do so, he tells me. "Any chance I have to be with them, I love to be with them, but I didn't want it to be a formal, 'I need you to do this, this, and this.'" They'll come on for various segments, like when Cameron Dallas was a guest, he invited his two daughters on, who are big fans, to ask him some questions. "My wife Jill loves to cook and she's a private person, but I said, 'Jill, what would be the chances of you coming on and doing that recipe? She said, 'Yeah, that would alright.' So, it wasn't something that we contracted them to do, but when the situations come up, it's a lot of fun for all of us," he says with a big smile. While researching Harry for this interview, I discovered that his wife is Jill Goodacre. As a huge Friends fan, her name immediately stood out, since she's the former Victoria's Secret model Chandler Bing was trapped with during the blackout. Excitedly, I tell Harry how I know her: Chandler repeats Jill's full name a few times as he tries to discreetly brag to the other friends over the phone that he is trapped with her. "That's right! 'I'm trapped in an ATM vestibule…'" Harry impersonates Chandler's muffled voice. "With Jill Goodacre!" I finish. Harry and Jill have been together for decades. I tell him I had read that he attributed their longevity to being best friends. "I think that's No. 1. We love being with each other. We make each other laugh. We're interested in each other's lives." Other keystones of their successful marriage include mutual respect and mutual interests. I love hearing about couples who have been together as long as you two have, especially since you don't see that too often, I tell him. "It's a really cool feeling." He smiles. "Like, I used to wonder what it would be like to be with her when she was older. She's not old, but, y'know, 27 years is a long time. In fact, it's 27 years tomorrow. And now, I know what it's like. We really love that. Not everybody is as lucky, quite frankly. People die and people fall out of love, and many things happen to contribute to those unfortunate circumstances. But so far, so good with Jill." His mouth turns up into a big, genuine grin. The "pretty romantic" entertainer kept his surprise anniversary plans under wraps, though he assures me he'd have told me if it wasn't the day before. He did reveal that he likes to impress Jill and writes her a song every couple of years to do so. Recently, he serenaded her on HARRY with "One Fine Thing," a song he wrote her from his 2013 album, Every Man Should Know. "Jill kinda plays things close to the vest. Even though I know her so well, she's still mysterious to me. I love doing things for her." As Harry talks about his wife, his face lights up. He's very open and indulges every inquiry. I am so engulfed in their love story that I forget my next question, and am a little upset with myself for allowing that. "Oh no, that's alright," Harry patiently reassures me. In real life, Harry is an adoring husband, but in TV land, Harry, I mean Dr. Leo, is a cheater –and this did not sit well with Will & Grace fans. The recognition that came with doing the Emmy award-winning TV show is what has surprised Harry the most in his career. "When I did Will & Grace [2002-2006], I knew the show was a hit. Like, if you're in a movie or if you're on a concert stage, there's a distance, right? People recognize you, but they don't necessarily come up to you... Like, if you see Tom Cruise walking down the street, most people will probably look at him from afar. But if you see Debra Messing [who played Grace] walking down the street, she's in your living room." Essentially, TV made Harry more approachable and people began to go up to him, but what he didn't expect was their reaction to him. They were angered. How could you could break Grace's heart and cheat on her? "I was like. 'Oh, yeah. You know that's fiction, right? But people, they buy into it." THE CONNICKS LOVE MIAMI "My oldest daughter likes to go to Ultra festival down there. She's been 2-3 times. I went with her once or twice. I've played there a gazillion times. I love it. My family loves Miami. I like going to Joe's Stone Crab. I love Miami Beach. I like walking down Miami Beach and all those hotels. You can kinda pick any one to go have lunch there and get this amazing food. And there's so much culture there. There's a lot of great music."

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