8 Celebrity Couples Who Lived Apart While Happily Married
8 Celebrity Couples Who Lived Apart While Happily Married
Andrea Wurzburger, Paris C., Emily KrauserSat, April 25, 2026 at 11:00 AM UTC
0
From left: Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker attend the 64th Grammy Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 3, 2022; Robin Roberts and Amber Laign attend the opening night of 'Call Me Izzy' on Broadway at Studio 54 in New York City on June 12, 2025Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic; Valerie Terranova/Getty
Most people think of married couples as living under the same roof, but that's not always the case.
While plenty of wedded pairs live in the same house, there are others, both famous and not, who've embraced "living apart together," a.k.a LAT relationships.
According to social psychologist Dr. Samantha Joel, there are "some meaningful benefits to living separately" for long-term, committed couples, such as experiencing more passion and excitement and increasing satisfaction through self-expanding activities that reduce boredom in a relationship.
Some Hollywood pairs like Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker lived separately as they navigated blending their households, while others also did so temporarily due to work obligations. However, are there couples who made nontraditional relationships permanent? Of course — just ask Robin Roberts and Sheryl Lee Ralph.
Read on to discover more happily married celebrity couples who have thrived while living apart.
01 of 08
Brian Cox and Nicole Ansari-Cox
Brian Cox and Nicole Ansari-Cox attend the dunhill & BAFTA Filmmakers Dinner at dunhill Bourdon House in London on Feb. 17, 2026Credit: Max Cisotti/Dave Benett/Getty
Brian Cox believes the key to his strong marriage with Nicole Ansari-Cox is "space."
In April 2026, the Succession star opened up about why he and his wife live in separate homes in the U.K.
"By keeping things separate, we are responsible for our own mess," Cox told The Times. "It's as simple as that. Her space is very important for her, and my space is very important for me. I think if we're thrown together, we feel locked together, and that's not a good creative relationship."
He added, "You should be free."
Their primary residences are a nine-minute walk apart in London's Primrose Hill neighborhood. The pair also has two U.S. homes, one in Brooklyn and one in upstate New York, and they keep separate bedrooms at both locations.
The longtime couple, who share two adult sons, met in Germany in 1990 and wed in Las Vegas in 2002.
02 of 08
Robin Roberts and Amber Laign
Amber Laign (left) and Robin Roberts attend the opening night of 'Left on Tenth' on Broadway at the James Earl Jones Theater in N.Y.C. on Oct. 23, 2024Credit: Bruce Glikas/Getty
Good Morning America anchor Roberts and her wife, Amber Laign, have had a non-traditional living arrangement for years, so it's clearly working for them!
The pair met on a blind date in 2005 and tied the knot in September 2023 during an intimate home garden ceremony.
Though Roberts and Laign have largely kept details about their 21-year relationship private, Laign told E! News during the opening night of the Broadway show Call Me Izzy in June 2025 that the secret to their marriage was living apart.
"The true secret: separate apartments," she revealed while also mentioning other equally important elements of their relationship. "Communication, keeping it fresh, trust — all the good pillars."
Roberts wrote about their decision to live separately in her 2014 memoir, Everybody's Got Something, explaining, per Hello!, "Amber and I have been a loving couple for almost 10 years now, but we choose not to live together. Maybe that's why we've lasted almost a decade!"
At the time, the outlet noted that Laign resided at her Connecticut home, while Roberts lived in her N.Y.C. apartment, which was close to her office at GMA.
03 of 08
Sheryl Lee Ralph and Vincent Hughes
Sheryl Lee Ralph and Senator Vincent J. Hughes attend the 75th Emmy Awards at Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Jan. 15, 2024Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty
For her January 2025 cover story, Ralph told PEOPLE that she and her husband, Vincent Hughes, live on opposite coasts.
Because their jobs require them to live in L.A. (where Ralph films Abbott Elementary) and Philadelphia (Hughes is a senator), they found a solution early on in their relationship that works for them.
"Every two weeks we saw each other, and it has continued to work out well," Ralph said. "When I go to see him, I love to see him. When it's time to leave, 'Bye-bye. See you soon.' I'm telling you, life is good."
She added, "He has his own life. I have my own life. He has his own real career, I have my own real career. He has his light to stand in. I have my light to stand in. He is not looking at me, thinking about status or this or that. He's doing his thing. I get to do my thing."
The couple tied the knot in July 2005, four years after Ralph's divorce from first husband Eric Maurice, with whom she shares two adult children: Etienne and Ivy Coco.
04 of 08
Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker
Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian attend the Met Gala celebrating 'In America: An Anthology of Fashion' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in N.Y.C. on May 2, 2022Credit: Cindy Ord/MG22/Getty
During a 2022 interview with Amanda Hirsch on the Not Skinny but Not Fat podcast, Kardashian opened up about life with her Blink-182 drummer husband and how they had planned to combine their households — eventually.
"We're in the place where we're figuring out how to blend our households and our kids and what life looks like now," the reality star said. "For the most part, we're getting those things in place. We do family dinner every Sunday night with all the kids at his house."
At the time, the couple — who welcomed their first child together, son Rocky Thirteen Barker, in 2023 — still had their own separate houses.
When asked if a shared home was in their future, Kardashian said, "There will be. We want our kids to feel really comfortable. They have both lived in their homes their whole lives, for the most part … They each have their rooms. We are a block away."
On a June 2024 episode of Hulu's The Kardashians, the businesswoman revealed her plans to move into Barker's home following Rocky's birth.
"We're going to move into his house, which is a block away, and then redo my house at the same time so that we can all be together — living together under one roof with the baby," she said.
As of February 2025, the couple wasn't in the abode, but they had been living together at Barker's home since November 2024.
She revealed the news on the reality show while giving her younger sisters, Kylie Jenner and Kendall Jenner, a tour of the renovations of her home of 10 years.
Advertisement
In a confessional, she opened up about why she was choosing to upgrade her entire home, explaining, "My goal in renovating my house and all the changes we're making is so that we can all fit."
She continued, "Me and my kids, my husband and three bonus kids, and have it feel like a new space that we're all moving back into together, and that feels like just new energy and new vibes."
Kardashian and Barker each have three children from previous relationships. The Poosh founder shares sons Mason and Reign and daughter Penelope with her ex Scott Disick, while the musician is father to son Landon, daughter Alabama and stepdaughter Atiana, all of whom he shares with ex-wife Shanna Moakler.
05 of 08
Nico Tortorella and Bethany Meyers
Nico Tortorella and Bethany Meyers attend the opening night of 'Medea' at the Metropolitan Opera House in N.Y.C. on Sept. 27, 2022Credit: Roy Rochlin/Getty
Nico Tortorella and Bethany C. Meyers got married in March 2018, but tying the knot didn't mean they had to move in together immediately.
The Mattachine Family star told PEOPLE in May of that year that while they had bought a home in upstate New York, they were taking their time moving in together.
"We still don't live together," Tortorella said. "We see each other on a weekly basis. We're FaceTiming all day, every day."
In April 2024, the couple — who welcomed their first child, daughter Kilmer Dove, in 2023 — announced they'd moved to Florida together after learning they were pregnant with their second baby.
"When we found out we were pregnant, it hit us that Kilmer didn't want to move to Florida just for her; she wanted to go get her baby sibling," the fitness and lifestyle entrepreneur wrote on Instagram at the time.
She continued,"And our second baby was willing us here as well. And it just served as the most beautiful reminder to trust your gut."
The pair welcomed their second child together, daughter Pesce Pearl Meyers Tortorella, during Hurricane Milton in October 2024.
06 of 08
Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Falchuk
Brad Falchuk and Gwyneth Paltrow attend the premiere of Netflix's 'The Brothers Sun' at Netflix Tudum Theater in L.A. on Jan. 4, 2024Credit: Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic
Gwyneth Paltrow was one year into her marriage to husband Brad Falchuk before they moved in together, and she had her reasons for the wait.
According to The Sunday Times, Falchuk spent three nights a week at his own house and four nights at Paltrow's L.A. home, an arrangement that her intimacy teacher Michaela Boehm approved as a way to keep the relationship fresh.
"Oh, all my married friends say that the way we live sounds ideal, and we shouldn't change a thing," the Marty Supreme star told the British newspaper in 2019.
During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that same year in October, Paltrow told host Jimmy Kimmel that their kids played a role in the decision.
"I think, really, because we each have two teenage children whom we love very much, but we were just trying to be mindful and give them a little space and not move too quickly," the Goop founder said on the late-night show.
However, in September 2025, the pair appeared on an episode of Paltrow's the goop podcast, where they admitted they regretted not living together with the kids during their first year of marriage.
"I mean, I think at the time, we really felt like we were doing the right thing," Paltrow said. "We were trying to kind of land the plane very, very gently and slowly and get everybody on board. But I'm not sure that it didn't just prolong that thing of, like, we don't know what we're doing."
To which Falchuk agreed, saying, "I think [that] just gives the kids too much power, which is the opposite of what you want to do. You want them to have agency, I think."
The Oscar-winning actress and Glee creator tied the knot in an intimate ceremony in September 2018 and embrace their blended family.
Paltrow shares daughter Apple and son Moses with ex-husband and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, and Falchuk shares daughter Isabella and son Brody with ex-wife Suzanne Bukinik.
07 of 08
Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy
Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy arrive at 'SNL50: The Homecoming Concert' at Radio City Music Hall in N.Y.C. on Feb. 14, 2025Credit: John Nacion/Variety via Getty
Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy maintained a long-distance marriage while she filmed Homeland in North Carolina, and he worked on other projects in New York.
"In the formative stages of our courtship, our relationship, our schedules were amazingly compatible," Danes said in a 2012 TV interview, per News Corp Australia. "Lately, we've not been so lucky … We talk a lot, we text a lot, we send each other photos of our toes — dumb stuff."
They were reunited when Dancy joined the Homeland cast for its sixth season in 2016 and began living together in New York.
"I can't quite believe my luck," the Emmy-winning actress told reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour at the time. "Miracles of miracles, we're both filming in our actual place of residence. I think I'm really looking forward to sleeping in my own bed … It's been a long, long time."
Danes and Dancy wed in a private ceremony in France in September 2009 after meeting on the set of the movie Evening in 2006. The couple shares three kids: sons Cyrus and Rowan and daughter Shay.
08 of 08
Ashley Graham and Justin Ervin
Ashley Graham and Justin Ervin atend the Women's Single Finals of the US Open — Celebrity Blue Carpet at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in N.Y.C. on Sept. 7, 2024Credit: Stephanie Augello/Variety/Getty
Ashley Graham and Justin Ervin are now happily cohabitating with their three sons.
However, for much of their relationship — they started dating after meeting at a church in 2009 and wed in August 2010 — the two lived apart.
In March 2016, the model told Entertainment Tonight that she lived in New York while her filmmaker husband resided in L.A.
Luckily, they had a workaround to make their long-distance love work.
"We have a rule: We don't go longer than two weeks without seeing each other," Graham told the outlet. "It's absolutely fabulous. I love it. We just meet in L.A. or New York. We meet in Paris, Miami. It's pretty sexy."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
