Comedian and actor Adam Sandler has described his 22-year marriage to actress Jackie Sandler as “destiny.”

While accepting an award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival on January 3, Sandler reflected on how his life might have turned out had he followed his father’s path and become an electrical engineer instead of pursuing acting. Still, he said that no matter the circumstances, he believes he and Jackie would always have found their way to each other.

“I sometimes think about it—what if I hadn’t broken through and had gone to work for my dad’s company instead?” Sandler said. “First of all, I know I still would have married my wife, Jackie. It was destiny. Nothing could stop that.”

With his trademark humor, the 59-year-old actor joked that their life might have looked slightly different: “We’d still have a house—just maybe about ten fewer bathrooms and fewer statues of me.”

He closed his speech by thanking Jackie, calling her “the woman of my life forever,” and assured the audience he has no plans to slow down his career.

Jackie attended the ceremony to support her husband, and the following day the couple appeared together at the Critics Choice Awards, sharing a sweet kiss on the red carpet. At the event, Sandler received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Jay Kelly.

Sandler met Jackie, now 51, at a Hollywood party through his close friend Rob Schneider. They later worked together on Big Daddy, in which Sandler starred and Jackie played a small role as a waitress. Their relationship quickly blossomed, and in June 2003 they tied the knot in a romantic ceremony in Malibu, California. The couple share two daughters, Sadie (born in 2006) and Sunny (born in 2008).

Since then, Jackie has appeared in 19 of her husband’s films, and their daughters have occasionally acted alongside their parents. In the near future, Sadie and Sunny are set to co-star with Sandler again in two upcoming projects produced by Netflix.

In an interview with AARP, the Grown Ups star once shared his secret to a lasting marriage: “Jackie and I enjoy spending time together. We try to make each other laugh, listen, be forgiving, and always support one another. We look toward a shared future and have never thought about being apart.”