They may live thousands of miles apart but Sheryl Lee Ralph and husband Vincent Hughes have been on the same page for decades.
The Abbott Elementary star, 69, opens up to PEOPLE in this week’s issue about her and Hughes’ love story, including their nontraditional living arrangement, which has worked out wonderfully for nearly two decades now.
Four years after her divorce from first husband Eric Maurice, with whom she shares two adult children Etienne and Coco, Ralph found love again in 2005 with Hughes. The two met while she was starring in Thoroughly Modern Millie on Broadway and they were smitten, but separable from the start.
“I’m very fortunate. The man that I am married to is Senator Vincent Hughes, seventh Senatorial district of Pennsylvania,” she says proudly. That said, “You fall in love with somebody and you realize he’s not leaving his career. He’s not leaving Philadelphia. I’m not leaving Hollywood.” And, she explains, “When you have children, it’s very difficult.”
In the beginning, they found a solution that has endured. “Every two weeks we saw each other, and it has continued to work out well. When I go to see him, I love to see him. When it’s time to leave, ‘Bye-bye. See you soon.’ I’m telling you, life is good.”
Ralph continues, “He has his own life. I have my own life. He has his own real career, I have my own real career. He has his light to stand in, I have my light to stand in. He is not looking at me thinking about status or this or that. He’s doing his thing. I get to do my thing.”
For more on Sheryl Lee Ralph, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here.
That pair will celebrate 20 years of marriage this July, “and some people can’t even get through two,” she adds. “So it’s all good. It is all good.”
One secret to their success: addressing issues head-on, a lesson Ralph says she learned after her divorce. “I’ve evolved into [saying], ‘Let’s talk about it.’ If you sit in problems, you get anxious, depressed, and all the juiciness in life starts to dry up. I can’t have that, because all of that will mess with my good looks!”
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