Olivia Colman has shared the simple advice she believes has kept her 25-year marriage to Ed Sinclair strong: "Be kind to each other."
The Oscar-winning actress, 52, said the couple try not to air grievances "in the heat of the moment," preferring to wait for a calmer time to discuss issues.
Advice from a 50-year marriage
Speaking to The Daily Mail, the Fleabag star recalled a piece of wisdom she heard from someone married for about 50 years: "Sometimes it's the things you don't say."
She added: "Not everyone will agree with that, so wait for the right moment to bring it up in a nice way."
How the couple handle conflict
Colman described herself and her husband as not being "conflict people," but said they have learned to talk things through calmly.
"We've learned over the years to definitely try and talk about, 'That thing on Tuesday, can we talk about that?' in a calm way and then it works well," she said.
She continued: "Find a nice gentle time to say, 'Can we talk about that thing?' And often it is, 'What thing?', but if one of us has been upset by it then we'll talk it through. For some people it works in the heat of the moment, and that doesn't work for me."
A partnership on screen and at home
The couple met as students at Cambridge University, where they worked together on a Footlights production of Table Manners, and married in 2001. They have three children.
Sinclair is a producer on several of Colman's projects, including the TV series Landscapers and films Wicked Little Letters, The Roses and Wicker.
Earlier this year, Colman also discussed how she challenges gender identity labels within her marriage, saying she has "always sort of felt nonbinary" and has described herself to her husband as "a gay man," to which he responds, "Yeah I get that."
