Marriage takes a village — just ask Ryan Michelle Bathe. The Army Wives alum opened up about what led to a rough patch with husband Sterling K. Brown and how they survived that phase.
Bathe, 42, admitted to Us Weekly during the 2nd annual Bloom Summit at The Beverly Hilton hotel on Saturday, June 1, that she has often found it challenging to schedule date nights with Brown, 43, due to their busy schedules. However, the mother-of-two shared that the couple have aimed to make dates a priority after their long relationship encountered a bump in the road.
“I think it’s just something that you have to do or else it all just falls apart. You know? And there have been times when we’ve gotten to the point where we’re, like, things are not good and it’s because we were coasting and we weren’t doing the date nights and we weren’t doing this,” she shared with Us exclusively. “You know, look — the reason why they say, ‘It takes a village,’ it takes a village to raise a child, but it also takes a village to raise a mom. It takes a village to raise a marriage. It takes a village. It takes those people who are like, ‘Girl, I got you. Bring your kids to my house and, you know, we’ll do it to you the next day and we’ll go out then.’ You know what I mean?”
Bathe continued: “I think that that’s something that we forget because we get busy, busy, busy, busy, but the busy, busy, busy means nothing if you don’t recoup. Yeah, it’s hard for us, just like it’s hard for everybody else. But it’s, like, you gotta make it like brushing your teeth. You wouldn’t leave the house without brushing your teeth and you don’t go to bed without brushing your teeth. At least I hope!”
While Bathe disclosed what the couple needed to do to repair their relationship, Brown shared with ABC News in March 2018 what has allowed their marriage to work.
“We have a community that supports us. And one thing that I’ve learned for any relationship to be successful is the people who are part of your life, they have to champion your union,” he revealed at the time. “Not just you, not just her. They have to champion y’all. And we’re very thankful to have a community that champions us.”
Bathe exchanged vows with the This Is Us actor in June 2007. The couple first met during their freshman year at Stanford University. Together, the longtime loves have welcomed sons Andrew and Amaré.
With reporting by Emily Marcus
