‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ star gives advice for a long-lasting marriage

Sarah Michelle Gellar is opening up about the secret to her long-lasting marriage.

During an appearance on “Today With Jenna and Friends” the 48-year-old actress surprised hosts Jenna Bush Hager and Tiffany Hadish with her “simple” secret to achieving a long-lasting marriage.

“Separate bathrooms!” she said on the show. 

Hager couldn’t hold back her surprise, asking the actress, “That’s it? It’s that simple?” to which Gellar responded, “It’s that simple.”

SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR SAYS SHE LOVED THAT ‘BUFFY’ WAS ‘INCLUSIVE,’ BUT NOT ‘ANTI-MAN’

Gellar shared the secret to her marriage with Prinze Jr. is separate bathrooms. (Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Knott’s Scary Farm)

The couple first met when filming the hit movie “I Know What You Did Last Summer” in 1997, but they didn’t start dating until three years later, in 2000. After just two years of dating, the two tied the knot in a star-studded ceremony in Mexico in 2002, later welcoming two children; Charlotte, 15, and Rocky, 12. 

“See, I was thinking it was like the [‘I Love Lucy’] thing where [Lucy and Ricky had] twin beds, and then when y’all want to get together you push them together, and when you want to be apart, you push them apart,” Haddish joked after Gellar shared her advice.

Gellar admitted she “had not thought of that,” but thought it was “actually a really good idea.”

This isn’t the first time Gellar advised couples that separate bathrooms might be the key to making a successful marriage last, elaborating on the idea during an appearance on Harry Connick Jr.’s talk show, “Harry,” in 2017.

The couple met while filming “I Know What You Did Last Summer” in 1997. (Getty Images)

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“I feel like there are certain things that should just be kept your own, and they never need to know,” she said on the show. “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.”

In an interview with Fox News Digital in December 2024, the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star put the blame for the high divorce rate in America on shifting societal views.

WATCH: SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR BLAMES AMERICA’S MARRIAGE WOES ON ‘DISPOSABLE’ SOCIETY

She explained that many people don’t put in the effort when it comes to making relationships work, explaining that “everything takes work in you, whether it’s a friendship or a work relationship or a marriage.”

“You have to put the work in, and we live in an extremely disposable society now,” she explained. “Your phone breaks, you don’t fix it. You get a new one, and I think that’s a lot of the attitude toward relationships.”

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Prinze Jr. made a bet with Howard Stern before getting married that his marriage with Gellar would last. (Michael Loccisano/FilmMagic)

Prior to their marriage, Prinze Jr. appeared on “The Howard Stern Show” and made a million-dollar bet with the radio show host that his marriage with Gellar would last, after Stern suggested the two wouldn’t make the distance.

On their 20th wedding anniversary, Gellar uploaded screenshots of the interview on her Instagram Story, reminding Stern of the bet. According to Us Weekly, she tagged him in the post and wrote, “@SternShow, I think you owe us.”

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