Catherine Oxenberg and Casper Van Dien aren't your typical Hollywood couple. Raising five children (two from previous marriages) in Malibu, Calif., the actors were the subject of a Lifetime television reality show called "I Married a Princess,"
a nod to Oxenberg's heritage as a descendent of Yugoslavian royalty. The two are avid fitness enthusiasts who make sure that exercise is a family affair. Their children are India, 14; Cappy, 12; Grace, 9; Maya, 4; and Celeste, 2. Recently, the two shared their love of the fitness lifestyle.
The Body As Temple
Casper Van Dien: "We both pride ourselves in taking care of our bodies. It’s our body temple, and we want to make sure that our children know it's the right thing to do. We meditate every day, and stretching is also a big part of our lives. We do the treadmill, run and go for walks on the beach. We also have a trampoline and a pool — plus, I play basketball with the kids a lot."
Catherine Oxenberg: "We're an organic family. Fitness is a really important element in our lives. We try to impart a healthy lifestyle to the children, too."
Van Dien: "We go to the gym often and do weights, yoga, Pilates. I work out in the gym with weights five, six times a week."
Oxenberg: "The older I get, the more vigilant I have to be. I had to work hard two years ago after having Celeste. But after having Maya [2001], I bounced back within six months, because I was nursing full-time. Casper couldn't stand it. I was eating more than him, and I was skinny as a rail."
Van Dien (laughing): "You burn up 600 calories a day nursing. It's not fair."
Oxenberg: "He would jealously get on the treadmill and try to burn off 600 calories just to keep it even. He'd never been out-eaten by a woman before."
Family Fitness
Oxenberg: "When I grew up, I think we had PE once a week. I have to say, the public school system in Malibu is fantastic. They have PE every single day. My daughter's able to run a mile. I could never run a mile when I was her age. Our children are in lifeguard camp and do Ironman competitions. It's amazing."
Van Dien: "One of our disciplines is to make the children do push-ups."
Oxenberg: "The other reason we do push-ups — beyond my husband coming from a military background [Van Dien's father was a commander in the U.S. Navy] — is because I believe in neuro-linguistic programming, or physically encoding information. You can talk to kids until you're blue in the face, and it goes in one ear and out the other. But if they’re engaging their bodies, things sink in on a different level. I guess we do have some interesting parenting techniques."
Catherine Oxenberg and Casper Van Dien aren't your typical Hollywood couple. Raising five children (two from previous marriages) in Malibu, Calif., the actors were the subject of a Lifetime television reality show called "I Married a Princess,"
a nod to Oxenberg's heritage as a descendent of Yugoslavian royalty. The two are avid fitness enthusiasts who make sure that exercise is a family affair. Their children are India, 14; Cappy, 12; Grace, 9; Maya, 4; and Celeste, 2. Recently, the two shared their love of the fitness lifestyle.