Harry Connick Jr. Doesn’t Have ‘Rules’ for His 30-Year Marriage (Exclusive)

For Harry Connick Jr., there is no one-size-fits-all “rule” for a lasting marriage.

In a wide-ranging conversation with PEOPLE surrounding his new film Find Me Falling, the actor and musician says that he and his wife of 30 years, Jill Goodacre Connick, focus more on their “way of life” rather that following a specific set of guidelines to keep their relationship strong.

“We trust each other, we love each other, we communicate,” says Connick, 56. “But when you say it’s a rule, it’s almost like we got to adhere to this. We don’t really roll like that. We just wake up every day and we’re thankful for each other and try to be good parents and good spouses to one another.”

But, he allows, “It’s different for everybody.” As the three-time Grammy winner notes, “Certain things that work for us may not work for other people, but we’re not too big on rules.”

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Connick’s take-it-as-it-comes attitude also extends to doling out any advice about relationships to the couple’s three daughters: Georgia, 28, Kate, 26, and Charlotte, 22.

“I think that we’ve tried to lead by example … I’m not an advice giver,” the Copycat actor tells PEOPLE.
If somebody asks me, ‘Hey, what do you think about this?’ I might tell them, but I’ve always found that giving advice, especially unsolicited advice, tends to make people shy away.”

In that vein, Connick says, “The whole point of the way Jill and I tried to raise our girls was to get them to have self-worth and try to make good decisions.”

“And I think they will,” he adds. “So, if they need us, they’ll come [to us]. But, it’s not like, ‘Make sure you communicate,’ or, ‘Find someone you can always laugh with.’ That’s just not my thing.”

Connick says he and former model Jill, 60, have supported their daughters in both their personal endeavors and finding their own career paths.

But all three girls have still followed heavily in their parents’ footsteps, through a mixture of modeling, acting, music and photography.

“For me and Jill, all we really want is for them to be happy and fulfilled,” he tells PEOPLE. “And all three of them seem to be in a place where they’re getting, that they really are living these full lives and are really having great experiences doing the things that they love.”

“That’s all we care about,” the Hope Floats star continues. “I don’t really care what they do. But the fact that they do things that are in my world is just amazing, because we get to share experiences and cross paths.”

As for potentially working alongside Georgia, Kate and/or Charlotte in the future, Connick says that he would be the fortunate one, as “all three of them have talents that I’ve never seen before.”

“They’re able to call upon these perspectives and gifts that are unique to them,” the proud dad explains. “So I would just be very lucky to be able to work with any of them.”

Find Me Falling is now streaming on Netflix.

For more from Harry Connick Jr., pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands now.