Brian Cox says living apart helps keep his marriage strong

Brian Cox told The Times that he and his wife Nicole Ansari-Cox keep separate homes and bedrooms in the U.K. and U.S., and he credited space and couples therapy for the strength of their marriage.

Brian Cox told The Times that he and his wife Nicole Ansari-Cox prefer to live apart and maintain separate bedrooms in some homes. In the U.K. they have separate houses roughly a nine-minute walk apart in Primrose Hill. They also have separate bedrooms in their homes in Brooklyn and upstate New York. Cox said that keeping things separate makes each person "responsible for our own mess" and added, "You should be free." Key details: - The couple married in Las Vegas in 2002 and marked that choice with a ceremony at the Little White Chapel. - Cox said he and Ansari-Cox met after she saw him perform King Lear in Hamburg in 1990 and that they became a couple eight years later following a chance meeting in New York. - They share two sons, Orson (24) and Torin (21); Cox also has two other children, Margaret and Alan, from a previous marriage. - Cox credited couples therapy and spoke about honoring sacrifices Ansari-Cox made for their life together. - He is 79 and said he exercises, going to the gym three times a week, and follows routines to reduce his risk of dementia because he needs to keep learning lines for work. - In the U.K., their homes are reported as being about a nine-minute walk apart in Primrose Hill. Summary: Cox describes deliberate physical separation and therapy as important parts of how he and Nicole Ansari-Cox manage their relationship. He also noted personal routines for health and memory as part of his ongoing work and that the couple is approaching their silver wedding anniversary.