The actor said therapy helped him realize he wanted to build future relationships based on friendship rather than physical attraction
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NEED TO KNOW
- Brian Austin Green said therapy changed the way he approaches relationships after his marriage to Megan Fox ended
- The actor revealed he now believes friendship should come before physical attraction
- Green added that his relationship with fiancée Sharna Burgess is built on honesty, openness and genuine connection
Brian Austin Green is reflecting on the lessons he took away from the end of his marriage to Megan Fox.
During the Saturday, July 11, episode of the I Do, Part 2 podcast, the actor answered fan questions about relationships and opened up about how his perspective on love shifted following his divorce from Fox, 40.
“My ex and I were together for almost 15 years,” Green, 52, said. “We were married for almost 10 years, and I led with physical attraction.”
Looking back, the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum said his previous relationships often began with chemistry before an emotional connection.
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“First, I’d be physically attracted to somebody and then sort of build a relationship around that,” he said.
After his marriage ended, however, Green said he realized he wanted to break old patterns.
“I was divorced, which I didn’t expect,” he continued. “I had three kids, was a single parent, and I knew that I didn’t want to repeat things that I had done. So I went through all sorts of therapy and all sorts of things to really figure out what it was that I brought into a relationship.”
Green said that experience ultimately changed how he approached his relationship with his fiancée, Dancing with the Stars pro Sharna Burgess.
“I genuinely believe that you need to be friends with someone first,” he said, recalling that the pair spent hours talking over breakfast when they first met before their relationship became romantic.
“We were really, really good, easy, natural friends to begin with,” Green said. “Then we realized, in being physical, that we really worked well together, and then it became the relationship.”
According to Green, beginning with friendship created a stronger foundation.
“When you start from a place of a genuine connection with someone, then you’re not so concerned about whether they are truly into you or not,” he said. “Because you guys are already speaking to each other in a very transparent way.”
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The actor added that he and Burgess, 41, were candid from the very beginning about both their strengths and shortcomings.
“Sharna and I talked about our best qualities and our worst qualities together. We sort of put it all out on the table,” he said. “For us, it was pretty apparent then, like, ‘Oh, hey, we should stick with us. This seems to be working.’ ”
Green also said that relationships built primarily on physical attraction can struggle to last over time.
“Your approach to a relationship is the best way to know if it’s just a purely physical connection,” he said. “That’s only going to last for so long that you’re going to get to a point where you go, ‘I can’t stand that other person.’ So they’re not hot to me anymore.”
Elsewhere in the podcast, Green described openness as one of the defining characteristics of his relationship with Burgess.
“To me, a healthy relationship … everything’s open,” he said.
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Green and Fox first met while filming Hope & Faith in 2004 and married in 2010. During their relationship, they welcomed three sons: Noah, Bodhi and Journey. Fox filed for divorce in November 2020.
Both have since moved on. Green is now engaged to Burgess, with whom he shares son Zane, while Fox, 40, shares daughter Saga Blade with MGK, formerly known as Machine Gun Kelly, 36.
Green and Burgess made their relationship Instagram official in January 2021 after being introduced through a mutual business manager. They later competed together on season 30 of Dancing with the Stars and welcomed their son in June 2022.
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