Richard Kind has a special love for a few things — his family, New York, and number eight. And all those things are related to one another.

The actor, who first started his career in New York, fell in love with the city and wanted to raise his family there. But before that, he had to get his wife to marry him.

His attempt almost failed. It was maybe the luck number eight brought him that eventually made it happen.

Richard Kind’s Ex Wife Almost Didn’t Marry Him

Kind first proposed to his wife, Dana Stanley, a fund-raiser for Project ALS, in 1997. She had been his girlfriend for a while and he decided it was time he bent the knee.

He had a proposal plan laid out, and it all relied on the number eight, his lucky number. He planned a ruse in New York — there was a party they had to go to on West 88th Street — to get Stanley to an area with double eights.

The two get there — 18 W. 88th Street in New York. And at eight minutes past eight, he got down on one knee and proposed.

"Eight is my lucky number, and if you say yes, I’ll be the luckiest man in the world," he said. But he wasn't to be. Not that night, anyway.

She said no. Maybe it was his lucky eights or just pure chance, but she said yes a month later.

They got married on November 14, 1999, at the Park View Restaurant in New York, with George Clooney acting as his best man.

Kind and his wife had their first kid, daughter Skyler, around 2002. Twins Samantha and Max followed in 2005.

They stayed together until 2014 when they finally went their separate ways. Their split was reportedly amicable, but when asked, he did not want to talk about it.

Richard Kind Raised His Children in New York

The year after they got married, Spin City, a sitcom he was working on, relocated its production from New York to Los Angeles. So, he and his wife moved to the West coast.

Until this point, his jobs decided where he went. He was happy to go to Los Angeles. The former couple even bought a house there and had all their kids in California.

However, as his kids grew, he realized Los Angeles wasn't the right place to raise children. So, in 2006, at the first chance he got, he moved back to New York.

Richard Kind with his children.

Richard Kind with his children: Skyler Kind and Samantha Kind. (Photo: Instagram)

As for why he loved living there, there's a bit of family background. His grandparents lived on the East side of New York. So, he decided that side was for old people and chose the West side to settle down instead.

"It’s very family-oriented, I think it’s easy, I know people here, I feel very safe here," he said of his locality on West 82nd Street, New York. The parks and the subways, which he thought made life a lot easier, added to the appeal.

After living in rented apartments for about two years, they finally bought their dream home. And they kept improving on it.

"Our style is whatever the kids won’t break," he told New York Post in 2013. But he hoped the home changed its face as his children grew older.