Emmy-winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph has been in a long-distance marriage with her husband, Senator Vincent Hughes of Pennsylvania, for the past 18 years. The couple live in different locations due to work commitments, with the actress based in L.A. while the senator is based in the Northeast.
Recently, rumors surfaced that the two finally decided to move in together, but Ralph debunked them while attending Elle‘s Women in Hollywood event in Los Angeles.
“Vincent and I have been married going on 19 years. We’ve been together 21 years. Abbott is shot in Los Angeles. My husband, as a senator, is always in his capitol [Harrisburg, Penn.], so I don’t know what magic people think we’re gonna do,” she shared with E!.
“We see each other on the average of every two weeks,” she added. “And everybody who questions that I say, guess what? We’re still married!”
The couple started out long distance when they met in 2005. One of the main reasons was that the Abbott Elementary actress had to work in L.A. However, she also wanted to keep her children, who were young at the time, close to their father and ex-husband Eric Maurice. The former couple have two kids together in Etienne and Ivy Coco Maurice.
That said, they have made their long-distance marriage work and done a lot of traveling to do so. Ralph has done the most of the back and forth, and the only time they’ve been in the same place for an extended period of time was during COVID lockdown.
“First of all, 20 years, keeping this marriage together, you have to be together some time,” she told the Philadelphia Inquirer in a past interview. “Vincent is not able to leave the state the way I can leave the state. In fact, in 20 years of our being together, I’m going to say my husband has maybe been in California, maybe, 25 times. That means I’m in Philadelphia every two weeks.”
She also explained that fans often wonder why she’s there when they see her. “It’s always like, ‘What are you doing there?’ ‘Um, I’m married to Sen. Hughes. I live here.'”
Long distance can’t be easy, but the two are making it work, so they’re certainly doing something right!