Inside My Heart: Dr. Phil and Robin Dating

Robin and Dr. Phil didn't lock eyes across a crowded room and immediately fall in love. They met "accidentally" through his baby sister, Brenda. "She said, 'Do you want to come over and spend the night at my house?' so we did that. Brenda said, 'You're going to have to be really quiet because my brother's in the next room, and he's very, very sick,'" Robin reminisces. "And I see this big man coming down the hall, and I'm thinking, 'Whoa, he's big!'"

"The first time I saw her she had on baggy shorts and a T-shirt. Looked like a million bucks to me," Dr. Phil says with a smile. 

Robin continues her remembrances. "You could tell he'd been in bed sick. He had a lot more hair, and it was messed up. He comes into the room and he goes, 'Well, who are you?' I thought, 'Well, that's kind of rude,' and I said, 'Well, who are you?' And he goes, 'Well, I'm Phil.' So, I told him who I was, and we sat down, and we visited there in the family room for a couple of hours. He asked me out for the next night, and we've been together ever since."

After three years of dating, Robin decided she was ready to be married. She reflects on Dr. Phil's reaction to her desires. "He thought about it for a while, and he looked at me and said, 'You know? I just can't do it. I have a goal. I want to get out of school, and I want to know I can take care of you. I can't marry you now," she recalls.

"We didn't break up; she kicked me out," Dr. Phil jokes. "She said, 'Listen, I think it's time you either fish or cut bait, Bucko.'"

 

They were apart for three months, when Robin started plotting her next move. "It was Christmas holiday, and I knew he'd be at home with his family. I made it a point to call the house when I knew he wouldn't be there. I left a message, 'Just tell him I called and if he wanted to call, that'd be great,'" she explains. "A few hours later, the phone rang. I had my girlfriend answer the phone because I didn't want him to think I was there. So he calls and she says, 'Oh no, I'm sorry Phil. She's not here. She's out on a date.'" 

The rest is history. "We went out to dinner, and he said, 'I miss you, and I love you. I want to marry you. I don't want to lose you," Robin reveals. "And so we got engaged a few weeks later on Valentine's Day. Six months after that, we were married."