For decades fans of *Hart to Hart* believed they knew the sparkling chemistry between Stefanie Powers and Robert Wagner — the effortless banter, the glamorous escapades, the perfect on-screen marriage.

But now, at 82, Powers has finally decided to tell the truth — and it’s far from the fairytale Hollywood sold us.

In an emotional interview she revealed behind-the-scenes secrets of power struggles, painful misunderstandings, and a hidden tension that nearly ended their partnership forever.

“We laughed on camera,” she admitted, “but off camera, it wasn’t always love and laughter.”

During the show’s run, Powers says, both she and Wagner were coping with enormous personal tragedy — within almost the same week his former wife, Natalie Wood, drowned, and her longtime partner, William Holden, died.

Filming fourteen-hour days, the pair had to bury their grief while pretending everything was picture-perfect.

Powers says that on more than one occasion they simply didn’t want to go on — but the commitment to the series meant they had no choice.

She describes how, beneath the glamor of the Harts’ posh jet-set lives, there was a constant push to maintain the illusion of ease and perfection.

On set they would often break into laughter, sometimes so much that the crew had to send them home.

Yet that laughter hid undercurrents of tension — between creative demands, personal loss, and the pressure of maintaining their image.

Powers spoke of a “relationship which was — we still do — that if anything happened to either one of us we would be on the plane to see the one the next minute.”

That bond, she said, was more of survival than romance — a profound friendship forged in crisis, not the glossy version fans imagined.

Powers also confessed that studio and network expectations sometimes pitted them against each other for drama and ratings, adding another layer of strain.

Meanwhile the public saw only the laughter, the wit, the effortless rapport.

“We chose to be together. We loved each other. We adored everything about each other,” she said of their characters — but clarified that off screen they were “siblings who really like each other.”

Now, decades later, she reflects on the era with both affection and realism: the privilege of success, the whirlwind of fame, and the cost of keeping secrets.

She acknowledges that the show’s legacy remains one of delight — but also that the truth behind it was messier and deeper than viewers ever saw.

Powers believes this revelation matters — not to tarnish an icon, but to appreciate the humanity behind it.

The real story, she says, is not only the glamour but the grit, the perseverance, the two actors leaning on one another through storms.

In the end, the Harts’ on-screen partnership may have been built for fantasy, but off screen the relationship was grounded in a tougher reality — one of loss, loyalty, laughter, and hidden heartache.

As Powers opens this chapter of her story, fans will never look at Jonathan and Jennifer the same way — and perhaps that’s the point.