Ray Romano Jokes His Wife of 35 Years Isn't Interested In His Career: 'She's Over It' (Exclusive)

The former Everybody Loves Raymond star took inspiration from his family for his new movie, Somewhere in Queens, which he co-wrote and directed

Ray Romano has entertained millions over the course of his career, but he jokes that his wife Anna, is no longer impressed. "She's over it," he quips in the new issue of PEOPLE.

Romano, 65, best known as affable everyman Ray Barone on his 1996-2005 CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, made his directorial debut with the new movie Somewhere in Queens.

And like he's done with his stand-up act and his TV show, he borrowed liberally from his own life for jokes and plot points in the movie about an Italian-American family in New York City's outer borough. Things go awry when married dad Leo (Romano) becomes hell-bent on making sure his teenage son Sticks (Jacob Ward) gets a basketball scholarship.

In real life, he'd also become a bit of a zealous fan when his youngest son Joseph, 25, played high school hoops, and like Anna, his on-screen wife (played by Laurie Metcalf) is a cancer survivor. The couple are also parents to Alexandra, 32, and 30-year-old twins Matthew and Gregory.

"I think they like that I get creative inspiration from them," Romano says of his family. "They read rough drafts of the script. My wife, not as much as my kids."

"I've been married to her for 35 years and I've been in the business for just about that long," he explains. "So she's supportive, but she's not as on top of it as my kids are."

He says he's careful about what to share when it comes to his family. "I never do it at their expense," he says, adding that his kids have never pushed back on what to include."

"My wife, on occasion, when our TV show was on, and we'd have an argument and she'd turn and say, 'I don't want to see this on the show.' And I would say, 'We already did that episode.'"

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But Romano says Anna was pleased with the way cancer storyline was handled in Somewhere in Queens. "She's 10 years cancer free. I think she liked the way we depicted it, and I think it felt real to her, what a cancer survivor mentally goes through," he says.

"Believe me, she would've told me, she would've told me if she felt something was wrong there or something that just rubbed her a little bit the wrong way," he says. "She gave me her approval."

The two, who met in the 1980s when they were both working as bank tellers, have been together for more than three decades. So what is the secret to the longevity of their relationship?

"I don't know if this is a general secret that applies to everybody, but my wife is not in show biz, and I am in show biz," says Romano. "My therapist one day told me when we were discussing something like this, and I'm going to quote him because it's a good quote to follow. He said, 'Act like you're not a narcissist.'"

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"And ultimately what he was saying was, the business I'm in and the occupation I have and the things that drive me can be hard for a spouse to deal with, and sometimes you can lose track of that," he continues.

"You're not being aware of the other person. And sometimes you have to take a breath and realize that. Because I do feel everything for my wife. I feel the love, but I don't show it enough," says Romano.

Somewhere in Queens, which costars Sebastian Maniscalco, Jennifer Esposito and Tony LoBianco, is playing in theaters April 21.

For more on Ray Romano, pick up the new issue of PEOPLE.

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