The actors met on a Broadway revival in 2007 and wed in 2012
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NEED TO KNOW
- Audra McDonald and Will Swenson have been married since 2012, and the Broadway star is sharing how they keep their relationship going strong
- “We really try to go no more than three weeks apart with work,” she told PEOPLE about one of their secrets to maintaining a successful marriage
- The Tony Award winner also stressed that “communication” is a major factor
Theater legend Audra McDonald is spilling her secrets to maintaining a successful marriage.
McDonald, 55, appeared at the New York Women in Film and Television Muse Awards at Cipriani 42nd Street on Friday, March 20, where she chatted with PEOPLE about her longtime husband, Will Swenson, and their relationship.
The Gypsy alum married Swenson in 2012. Nearly 15 years later, he joined her on the red carpet at the event in New York City. She said that making time to be together despite their busy schedules is a significant key to their success.
"We really try to go no more than three weeks apart with work," McDonald explained. "If you do, things can kind of crumble. So we make that rule."
"The other one is communication. Communication, communication," she added. "And you have to be friends. You have to be friends first. If you don't have the friendship base, then I don't [think] that marriages can survive."
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McDonald and Swenson, 53, first met in 2007 while they were working together on the 110 in the Shade Broadway revival, according to The New York Times. The pair made their red carpet debut as a couple at the American Theatre Wing's Spring Gala in 2009.
They welcomed their daughter, Sally James McDonald-Swenson, in 2016. McDonald is also mom to Zoe Madeline Donovan, whom she welcomed in 2001 while married to Peter Donovan. Swenson is dad to sons, Sawyer and Bridger, whom he shares with his first wife, Amy Westerby.
"Married this guy 12 years ago. Here’s to 12 more and then 12 more after that and 12 more and 12 more and 12 more and 12 more," McDonald wrote about Swenson in a loving Instagram tribute in 2024. She casually marked their 13th anniversary in October 2025, writing, "These two celebrated 13 years of marriage yesterday."
Swenson was raised in Utah as part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Despite graduating with a theatre degree from Brigham Young University, he is no longer a "practicing Mormon," he said on the Why I'll Never Make It podcast in 2021.
He made his Broadway debut in 2004 in Brooklyn, and his additional credits include Hair, Waitress, Les Misérables and A Beautiful Noise.
Meanwhile, McDonald has been on Broadway since 1992. She currently holds the record for the most Tony Awards with six wins for her roles in Carousel, Ragtime, Porgy and Bess and other popular shows. She also has two Grammys and an Emmy, and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2017.
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"The scariest audience for me is always the audience where you're sitting, because I feel loved and supported, but I still want you to like me," McDonald told her husband during a joint 2022 interview with Entertainment Weekly.
He responded, making it clear that he understood by saying, "I'll perform in front of thousands of strangers and not get insecure, but I want you to like me so much that I get nervous every time you come."
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McDonald currently plays Dorothy Scott on HBO's period drama The Gilded Age, alongside Carrie Coon, Morgan Spector, Christine Baranski, Denée Benton, Cynthia Nixon and more. Season 4 of the television series recently began filming, and could feature a rumored time jump.
According to Deadline, the fourth season's description reads, “Bertha Russell changed Society at a cost. Now, her family must reckon with the consequences as Agnes van Rhijn seizes an opportunity to regain her position. Meanwhile, Marian forges a new path for herself, and Peggy works to be accepted by her future in-laws. In this new era, you must be careful what you wish for.”
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