Brian and Marilyn were married on December 7, 1964. Within weeks, Wilson had a nervous breakdown that he attributed, in part, to himself and Marilyn not "getting along too good". Marilyn took her husband to see a psychiatrist, who declared that Brian's issues were due to work-related stress. Further conflicts in their marriage were exacerbated by his progressive drug habits, spurred on by a new friendship with talent agent
Loren Schwartz. She reflected, "He was not the same Brian that he was before the drugs. [...] These people were very hurtful, and I tried to get that through to Brian." Following unsuccessful attempts to distance Wilson away from Schwartz, Marilyn separated from Brian for at least a month. Marilyn later reconciled with her husband and returned to live with him. Much of the lyrical content from the Beach Boys'
Pet Sounds reflected the couple's early marital struggles. Marilyn felt that her relationship with Brian was a central thematic reference, particularly for "
You Still Believe in Me" and "
Caroline, No". "
Wouldn't It Be Nice" was similarly inspired by Brian's feelings for Diane, Marilyn's sister. According to the album's lyricist,
Tony Asher, Brian was visibly "confused about love", having displayed an infatuation with Diane for the duration of the album's writing sessions. When
Pet Sounds was assembled, Brian brought a complete acetate to Marilyn, who remembered, "It was so beautiful, one of the most spiritual times of my whole life. We both cried." In early 1967, the couple put their Laurel Way house up for sale and took residence at a newly purchased
Bel Air mansion on Bellagio Road. Marilyn told Gaines that they moved because her husband had "wanted a bigger home", but according to Badman, the move was to extricate themselves from Brian's "hanger-ons". She referred to Brian's friends as "drainers", a sentiment shared by the rest of Wilson's family, who had felt that some of Brian's associates had been enabling his drug habits and other self-destructive behavior. To keep away strangers, Marilyn installed a high brick wall and an electronically controlled gate around the estate. Marilyn and Brian had two daughters,
Carnie and
Wendy (born 1968 and 1969, respectively), who later had musical success of their own as two-thirds of the group
Wilson Phillips. Marilyn remembered "really getting worried about Brian" around this time, explaining that she felt there "was suddenly a difference between having fun and having sick fun ... once you have a child you look at things differently". Carnie remembered her mother explaining to her as a child that her father would "never be able to be a father like your friends have." Marilyn later said of Brian, "I slept with one eye open because I never knew what he was going to do. He was like a wild man." A few years into their marriage, Marilyn was encouraged by her husband to have affairs with other men, including songwriter
Tandyn Almer in the early 1970s. Frustrated with the constant visits to their home from musicians and producers, Marilyn had the
band's studio, located within the Wilson household, dismantled in 1972. Due to Brian's continued drug expenditures, his income was also redirected to Marilyn's bank account. ==American Spring==