Relationships

Could Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Falchuk have discovered the secret to a happy marriage?

Well, we all need our space.
Gwyneth Paltrow and husband Brad Falchuk live apart three nights a week

There are lots of ‘secrets’ to a happy marriage: be kind to one another, don’t sweat the small stuff, don’t sleep on an argument, keep things oldfashioned – talk on the phone (according to Nicole Kidman), and so on and so on.

But what if all it really comes down to is the amount of time you spend together? In Gwyneth Paltrow and new husband Brad Falchuk’s case, that means less is more.

In an interview with The Sunday Times’ Style, Gwyneth revealed that she and Brad, who were married in September 2018, only live together four nights a week at her house. The other three Brad stays at his own home with his children Brody and Isobella, who he had with his first wife, Suzanne Bukinik.

While it may sound unconventional we’ve probably come to expect that from the Goop founder and actress.

Gwyneth and her ex, Chris Martin, famously ‘consciously uncoupled’ rather than ‘separated’ in 2014 after 10 years of marriage.

And she and Brad famously took their combined brood of children – Brody and Isobella as well as Gwyneth’s children Apple, 15, and Moses, 13 – with them on their honeymoon, as well as Chris. She told The Times that Chris and Brad are “totally friends”.

She says of her and Brad’s living arrangement:

“All my married friends say that the way we live sounds ideal and we shouldn’t change a thing.”

David and Victoria Beckham reportedly enjoy having their own space too, in separate wings.

The thing is, the arrangement makes sense when you think about the complexities involved in blended families. Both sets of kids get time alone with their own parent, and both partners get their own space, too.

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick have been married since 1997 and credit time apart as the key to their union.

“I know this sounds nuts, but we have lives that allow us to be away and come back together,” SJP said in an episode of Girlboss Radio with Sophia Amoruso (via Us Weekly). “His work life takes him here, and mine takes me there. In some ways, I think that that’s been enormously beneficial because we have so much to share in a way.”

The Beckhams (married 20 years this year) reportedly have ‘his’ and ‘her’ wings and Jamie and Jools Oliver also spend lots of time apart, with Jamie revealing in an interview with Good Housekeeping that he’s “mainly a weekend parent”.

” I’m happy with that, I think they are fine with it.”

Well, as the old adage goes, ‘familiarity breeds contempt, so maybe they’re onto something. Time will tell.

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