“Freakier Friday” actor Manny Jacinto knows that the honeymoon phase doesn’t last forever, but he doesn’t wait for cracks to show before working on his marriage.
In an interview with Cosmopolitan published on Tuesday, Jacinto said a good piece of relationship advice he once received was to “go to couples therapy before you need it.”
“It goes for therapy in general. You don’t want to be going to couples therapy when you’re in a really bad spot because sometimes it might be too late,” Jacinto told Cosmopolitan.
Having a neutral third party can help with communication and deepen understanding between partners, he said.
Moreover, maintaining a marriage requires constant effort.
“It takes work, time, and communication, but it’s worth it. If it was easy, everybody would stay married. But it’s not easy,” Jacinto said.
Jacinto, also known for his roles in “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Star Wars: The Acolyte,” married fellow actor Dianne Doan in 2021.
When navigating relationships, he said he finds it helpful to ask himself whether he is reacting to his feelings or to what his partner is actually saying.
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“So it can be as simple as, ‘Am I hungry and is this why I’m acting like this? Or did I not get enough sleep? Am I actually responding to what they’re saying properly and giving it the full attention?'” Jacinto said. “Because I noticed that if I don’t get a good amount of sleep or if I’m hungry, if I’m having a bad day, that gets passed on to our relationship.”
A representative for Jacinto did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider outside regular hours.
Other Hollywood celebrities have also shared why couples therapy is essential to their relationships.
In August 2024, Rob Lowe said he and his wife of over 30 years, Sheryl Berkoff, have gone for counseling even when they “didn’t need it.”
“It’s like taking your car in and making sure the engine’s running great,” Lowe said.
In March, Meghan Trainor told Business Insider that she and her husband, Daryl Sabara, started going to marriage counselling once a month.
“We heard our friends were in couples therapy, which made us wonder if we should do that, too. We said to ourselves, ‘Let’s try it and see how we can get even closer,'” Trainor said.
