Officially, Walt stated about Mickey and Minnie, when he once wrote in the Film Pictorial (1933), "In private life, Mickey is married to Minnie. A lot of people have written to him asking this question, because sometimes he appears to be married to her in his films and other times still courting her. What it really amounts to is that Minnie is, for screen purposes, his leading lady. If the story calls for a romantic courtship, then Minnie is the girl; but when the story requires a married couple, then they appear as man and wife. In the studio we have decided that they are married, really." In 1997 Russi Taylor, the current voice of Minnie married Wayne Allwine, the current voice of Mickey after a five year courtship. Russi's theory about Mickey and Minnie's public image, "The characters aren't going to get married, because children relate to Mickey and Minnie at their own levels. They don't know how old Mickey and Minnie are; but if they were to get married, they would become adults, and it would spoil the illusion."