The couple met as teenagers and have four children
Credit: Ayisha Collins/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Bryce and Kayla Harper shared the secret to keeping their marriage strong during their joint appearance on the Let’s Be Honest with Kristin Cavallari podcast
- The couple credit communicating effectively, ignoring outside opinions and prioritizing spending time together as keys to their nearly decade-long marriage
- The couple met as teenagers and have four children
Bryce and Kayla Harper are sharing how they keep their marriage strong.
The couple, who will celebrate 10 years of marriage in December, revealed the key to their long-lasting relationship during their first joint podcast appearance on the Tuesday, Sept. 1, episode of Let’s Be Honest with Kristin Cavallari.
“I would say communication. We learned how to communicate with each other in a good way early on,” Kayla told host Kristin Cavallari, later elaborating, “We learned to sit down and talk. It wasn’t like a nasty conversation even if we were upset. It was like, ‘Hey, let’s go to the dining room. Let’s sit down and we’ll talk this out.’ ”
She continued, “I’ve learned how to approach things with him and he’s learned how to approach things with me in a way that doesn’t make us feel, like, attacking. It’s just like, ‘Hey, let’s figure this out. We have an issue right now. Let’s talk it out. Let’s get through it.’ ”
Credit: Kayla Harper/Instagram
Bryce and Kayla, both 33, also ignore outside voices and opinions on their relationship, and prioritize still dating each other.
The Philadelphia Phillies player added, “We just make it fun. We just try to have fun with it and we laugh at the good, laugh at the bad.”
From the beginning of their relationship, effective communication has been crucial.
The couple met when they were 14 years old. Although they attended different high schools, Bryce explained that they became friends because they “hung out in the same group.” A few years later, they started dating.
“We just clicked,” Kayla recalled with Bryce adding, “We were good friends. It was just easy to kind of communicate and talk and hang out.”
Bryce shared that they “went through some ups and downs” when he went to the minor leagues and she went to college. They had “little breakups here and there” due to the struggles of long-distance dating. “We just missed each other and didn’t know how to communicate,” Kayla said.
Because of Bryce’s rising baseball career, they were forced to have serious conversations about their relationship early on.
“That’s the crazy part. Our whole relationship has gone so quick,” the MLB star said. “We had to have some pretty big conversations at such a young age. It’s obviously worked out to this point. Hasn’t been easy. We’ve weathered the storm a lot.”
Credit: Kayla Harper/Instagram
He praised Kayla for being there “every step of the way” and for “[holding] down the fort every day” while he’s on the road as a stay-at-home mom, which he noted is “one of the hardest jobs in the world.”
The couple share four children: son Krew, 7, daughter Brooklyn, 5, daughter Kamryn, 2, and son Hayes, 11 months.
“There’s been a lot of good in my career, and a lot of bad in my career as well. So having somebody at home that can go through those moments with you, you know, she’s in it every day,” Bryce said. “She’s in the thick every single day with my career, with our kids, with decision-making.”
Kayla joked that she stays sane with “lots of help” and “lots of praying.”
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Communication continues to be key as they navigate the challenges of balancing professional baseball with parenting.
“Just learning because you can’t communicate the same with everybody,” Kayla said. “Like, there’s different ways to parent each kid. They respond different differently.”
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