Russell Crowe Desperate To Reconcile With Wife — Did Rugby Team Lead To Their 2012 Split?

Russell Crowe is either a die-hard romantic or extremely stubborn — or a little bit of both. After three years of separation, the actor is determined to reconcile with his estranged wife, Danielle Spencer.

Crowe, who has most recently appeared in the war epic The Water Diviner, sat down with Charlie Rose recently and opened up about something that most everyone — famous or not — can relate to: A broken heart and a hope to reconcile a lost love.

Crowe and Spencer began their love affair in 1989 when they starred in The Crossing together. They married in 2003, but the union crumbled in 2012. Russell and his wife have two kids — Tennyson, 8, and Charles, 11.

Three years into their separation, Crowe is aghast at how something so perfect fell apart, according to E! Online.

“I’ve loved Danielle Spencer since 1989 — that’s never going to change — and that’s one of those things where I stare at her and go, ‘How did it fail?’ I still can’t work it out, because my feelings for her have never changed.”

With Russell’s love going strong, he believed that being persistent would ensure he and his wife would one day reconcile.

“Once I commit to something, I stick with it, so you never know,” he said, according to Star Pulse.

This much is certain — Crowe seems broken without Danielle. In his interview with Rose, the actor revealed that being married was a point of pride.

“I was so proud to wear that ring, Charlie. I don’t feel balanced… And every now and then, I’ll (touch) my (ring) finger, it’s not there anymore. To this day everything I do is still connected to that (his marriage)… We haven’t done the deal (divorced) yet… I didn’t get married to get divorced.”

The pair isn’t technically divorced yet, and Russell doesn’t plan to pursue that option any time soon, added Philly.com. The only option is to reconcile.

But don’t think Crowe is living in denial about his contribution to their split. He has admitted that he put too much of his energy into his rugby club, called the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Russel’s goal for a long time, apparently, was to transition the club to National Rugby League champions. That happened in 2014.

“(The rugby) ended up not being a bad business. No, it’s not a bad business decision at all. But it’s taken a lot of work, and it’s probably cost me a marriage. That’s what happened… It took a lot of work, man, you know? It took a lot of work, and I already had an extremely busy schedule.”

Now that Russell has admitted to his errors and professed his ongoing love publicly, will the couple now reconcile? Even though such a reunion is for now uncertain, the couple is sticking together when it comes to their kids.

“For me, the most important thing is for my kids to see that their parents are … a parental unit and that we’re … friends and there’s a lot of affection there, so it’s the way to go. Obviously it’s very challenging for him to deal with and very challenging for me to deal with, but I guess in some ways keeping under the radar is good for my kids.”

[Photos Courtesy Patrick Riviere, Lisa Maree Williams]