(CNN) -- Camille Olivia Hanks was studying at the University of Maryland when she met Bill Cosby in the early '60s. He was doing stand-up comedy in Washington when the two were set up on a blind date. They fell in love and she left school to support his burgeoning career in entertainment. 

By 1964, the two were married and they would go on to have five children together. In 1997, their son Ennis (who inspired the character Theo Huxtable) was murdered, and a few years later Dr. Camille Cosby did a one-on-one with Oprah explaining how she'd eventually been able to find joy after mourning the loss of a child. 

Throughout that interview it was so clear that you were looking at the real-life Clair Huxtable that even Oprah seemed a bit star-struck by her poise and grace. 

During her 2000 appearance on Oprah, Camille revealed: 

"I became keenly aware of myself in my mid-thirties. I went through a transition. I decided to go back to school, because I had dropped out of college to marry Bill when I was 19. I had five children, and I decided to go back. I didn't feel fulfilled educationally. I dropped out of school at the end of my sophomore year. So I went back, and when I did, my self-esteem grew. I got my master's, then decided to get my doctoral degree. Education helped me to come out of myself." 

When asked why she wasn't content to just settle for being the wife of a famous entertainer she continued: 
What did she do to get married?
dropped out of college 