Joanna Page has made a very cheeky admission about her marriage to James Thornton, revealing how the couple keep the spark alive after 23 years together and four children. The Gavin and Stacey star, 46, confessed that she and her husband, also 46, still make time for 'wild abandoned sex' during the day when their youngest child is at nursery and the older ones are at school.
Prioritising Mornings
Joanna explained that because she is still co-sleeping with their youngest, Boe, four, she and James barely spend any time together at night. Instead, they prioritise their mornings. She told New Magazine: 'Boe's at nursery, the children are at school, so James and I will turn to each other and say, "let's just try and grab five minutes, let's quickly have some wild abandoned sex," and then maybe we'll have lunch at the local pub.'
Growing Together
Opening up about their relationship, she added: 'We've been together for such a massive amount of time, we've managed to grow together. Inevitably you change as a person. My personality has completely evolved from when we first met - that's what happens when you have four kids. But from the start our goals and morals have always been the same - how we want to live, how we want to parent. But honestly we don't get to spend much time together at all.'
Honest About Marriage Struggles
Her wild sex confession comes after she admitted in February that parts of her decades-long marriage to James have been 'rubbish' and she spent four years sleeping in a separate bed. Speaking to The Daily Mail, Joanna said the couple have 'massive arguments' as she refused to sugarcoat their relationship, blaming clashes between his 'Northern, measured' temperament and her 'manic, impulsive and fiery' nature - meaning they are rarely 'lovey dovey.'
She even suggested they might not have survived had they adopted the less patient approach she believes some younger couples take. The star said: 'If you're going through 26 years of marriage like me, it's not always going to be wonderful, it's going to be pretty rubbish, and sometimes, you end up hating each other, you get bored of each other, they will really annoy you, and suddenly it will be wonderful again.'
'You can't be with someone for 26 years and it be wonderful all the time. These days, people say, it's not working, let's just split up, and to go through 26 years, we're lucky because we have grown on the same path so we still have the same thoughts and opinions. Yes, we do disagree with each other, we have massive arguments, but we have grown on the same path. We bicker all the time, we're not all lovey dovey. He's quite slow, and northern and measured, and I'm very manic and hysterical next to him and very impulsive and fiery.'
'Be prepared, you have to work at marriage, don't give up at the first sign of hard work. Always be kind and have a good sense of humour.'
Podcast as Couples Therapy
Joanna met fellow actor James on the set of the BBC costume drama David Copperfield in 1999, and they married four years later. The couple now also have a podcast together, Lush!, which forces the pair to sit down and talk to each other. James has become more relaxed in his new-found role of podcast co-host, as she explained: 'At first he was quite weary and nervous because he's never done anything like this before, and he was really worried he wouldn't think of anything to say but we were in the studio for two hours just chatting, we went in on an argument, we actually weren't even speaking, and I just said "Right come on" and it was like couples' therapy.'
'We are like ships passing in the night sometimes because there's so much going on with the children that we don't have time to sit down and talk to each other. We talked and talked and talked and when it finished, he was like a new man, he was buzzing, and full of life and we really connected.'
During one episode, they talked about all the things that are better than getting back into her marital bed after four years of sleeping with Boe. 'We know everything about each other, but it's quite liberating talking about those things and delving into those things. There are loads of different things that have happened to us over the years but sitting in a room and talking about our opinions, and asking our listeners, like we have had a whole debate about the heating. There's nothing off the table at all. We have been together for 26 years now, so there are no topics off limits.'
