Sarah Michelle Gellar has shared the key to her long-lasting marriage to Freddie Prinze Jr.
The 48-year-old actor opened up about her relationship during Wednesday’s episode of Today with Jenna & Friends. After noting that she and her husband first met on the set of the 1997 film, I Know What You Did Last Summer, she acknowledged that they were also friends for a few years before they started dating.
After Gellar confirmed she’s been married for 23 years, hosts Tiffany Haddish and Jenna Bush Hager asked her: “What’s the secret?”
“Separate bathrooms,” Gellar responded. Bush Hager then asked: “That’s it? It’s that simple?”
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer star agreed, replying: “It’s that simple.”
Gellar previously discussed her stance on having two bathrooms, one for her and one for her husband, in her home. During a 2017 appearance on Harry Connick Jr.’s eponymous talk show, she again called the separate bathrooms the “secret” to her relationship.
“I feel like there are certain things that should just be kept your own and they never need to know,” she said at the time. “Also, maybe, possibly a separate shopping credit card? Or if you’re a guy, maybe a separate gaming card so I don’t have to see how much video games cost.”
Gellar and Prinze starred in a handful of movies together in the ‘90s and ‘00s, including She’s All That, Scooby-Doo, and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. They were also both in the 2022 comedy film, Clerks III.
After officially tying the knot at a resort in Mexico in 2002, the couple welcomed two children, Charlotte, 15, and Rocky, 12.
Prinze has also previously discussed what he believes is the key to his marriage. While appearing on an episode of The Kyle & Jacki O Show in 2022, he poked fun at why his marriage has lasted for so long, while also acknowledging that he “hesitates” to give couples relationship advice.
“The reason why I think Sarah and I work, is one: ‘My mom was a chef and I learned how to cook,’” he said. “And I married someone who couldn’t cook.”
He jokingly added: “So I’m necessary. She needs me to live and sustain herself.”
Prinze also expressed that “laughter” is a big part of his marriage, since he’s been able to make jokes that “make [his wife] laugh.”
During an interview with Entertainment Tonight that same year, he also recalled how he and Gellar developed their friendship on the set of I Know What You Did Last Summer before they started dating.
“She didn’t have a driver’s license so I was her chauffeur, and I would drive her to the gym every day and then go to the store, go get myself some lunch and then drive her back and we would just have an hour drive,” he said. “We shot in this tiny little crazy town called South Fork. I would drive her to Wilmington every day that we had off, every day during rehearsals and we would have you know 55 minutes — if I drove the speed limit — to get to know one another.”
