Kevin Smith and Wife Have 'No Rules' in Marriage: 'Probably Why It's Worked So Well for 25 Years' (Exclusive)

Kevin Smith and wife Jennifer Schwalbach Smith are 25 years strong.

The couple celebrated their milestone anniversary in April of this year. Asked about any big rules that keep their marriage strong, The 4:30 Movie writer-director tells PEOPLE, "My first instinct is, well, there've been no rules, and that's probably why it's worked so well for 25 years."

"I can't speak for her, but I just like seeing her. I just like being around her. She's my human," says Kevin, 54, who tied the knot at Skywalker Ranch with Jennifer, 53, on April 25, 1999, two months before the birth of their daughter Harley Quinn Smith.

The couple’s relationship got off to a unique start when they first met: Jennifer was a journalist working for USA Today when she interviewed Kevin about the release of his Clerks comic book.

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According to an Instagram post by Kevin, after the interview, the two started talking through email and then “all-night phone calls," before they made their relationship official.

Jennifer is also an actress who has appeared in Kevin's movies, beginning with 2001's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (which also marked the film debut of their daughter Harley, now 25).

Touching on his gratitude for his wife's support over the years, Kevin says, "I spend a lot of time on the road and doing gigs elsewhere and whatnot, and over the 25 years she's traveled with me a bunch and then lately she stays home to watch the dogs and stuff like that."

"She's been there shotgun through 25 years of this, and she's always been gracious about taking a back seat to it," he continues. "When you're married to an artist — an artist who lives with his or her head up their ass thinking about, 'Oh my God, the whole world has to know what I think and feel' — I would imagine that must be irritating to live with. But she's lived with it for a quarter century."

Kevin's pride for his family extends in a big way to Harley, who has a cameo in his new movie after previously also appearing in many of her dad's films, including Jersey Girl (2004), Clerks II (2006), Tusk (2014), Yoga Hosers (2016), Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019) and Clerks III (2022).

"It's always fun to be able to sit there and make pretend with your kid," he says. "It's on a movie and it's a larger scale and she's 25 and I'm 54, but at its root, it's some variation of us playing hide-and-seek or video games together when she was a little kid."

The filmmaker also praises his daughter's "maturity as an actor and as a person," which he says "always capture my imagination."

"But I've spent the better part of 25 years now just trying to make this kid laugh, and it's one of my favorite things in the world to do," Kevin adds.

The 4:30 Movie, distributed by Saban Films, is on digital now.