Former Coronation Street star Ryan Thomas and his fiancee Lucy Mecklenburgh have revealed that they sleep in separate beds and bedrooms when staying at their home in Manchester.
The actor explained that while they choose separate rooms in Manchester to secure a better night's rest, their smaller London property forces them to share. "Well we do now, because we haven’t got enough rooms in London," he said.
His brother Adam Thomas expressed outrage at the setup, telling him: "I think it's f***ed up personally as well. You need to stay in the same bed as her."
Lucy Mecklenburgh, who has been engaged to Ryan Thomas since 2019, explained the reasoning last year. "Basically Ryan snores, he sleep talks, he whacks me in his sleep," she said.
Separate sleeping arrangements, often referred to as a "sleep divorce," have historically been practiced by members of the Royal Family. King Charles and Queen Camilla are believed to retire to separate rooms late in the evening, mirroring the habit of the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden
Hollywood actress Cameron Diaz, 53, has been a vocal supporter of the practice, stating in 2023 that society should normalize couples sleeping in separate rooms or even separate houses.
The star, who married musician Benji Madden, 47, in 2015 and shares daughter Raddix, four, and four-month-old son Cardinal with him, discussed her views on Molly Sims' Lipstick on the Rim podcast in December.
"We should normalize separate bedrooms," Diaz insisted. "To me, I would literally, I have my house, you have yours. We have the family house in the middle. I will go and sleep in my room. You go sleep in your room. I'm fine. And we have the bedroom in the middle that we can convene in for our relations."
She clarified that her view was formed before her marriage: "By the way, I don’t feel that way now because my husband is so wonderful. I said that before I got married."
Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Falchuk
Actress Gwyneth Paltrow, 53, spoke openly to The Sunday Times in 2019 about sleeping apart from her husband, producer Brad Falchuk, 55. The couple, who began dating in 2014 and married in September 2018, initially maintained separate homes after tying the knot on the advice of intimacy coach Michaela Boehm.
Falchuk slept at his own house for three days a week when his two children with ex-wife Suzanne Bukinik stayed over, spending the remaining four nights at Paltrow's house for "polarity."
Paltrow remarked: "Oh, all my married friends say that the way we live sounds ideal and we shouldn’t change a thing." She told Harpers Bazaar in 2020: "I think it certainly helps with preserving mystery and also preserving the idea that this person has their own life." The couple eventually moved in together a year later, with Paltrow telling InStyle: "We took a year to let everybody [in the family] take it in and let the dust settle."
Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan
Television presenter Richard Madeley revealed in 2024 on Kate Thornton's White Wine Question Time podcast that he sleeps in the spare room when presenting Good Morning Britain to avoid disrupting his wife Judy Finnigan's sleep.
The couple first met in the 1980s while working at ITV Granada Television and married in 1986.
"When I'm doing Good Morning Britain I sleep in the spare room," Madeley admitted. "I do probably sleep a little bit better in bed with Judy but I'm okay on my own." He added: "I wouldn't think of doing that to Judy. Apart from anything else, Judy and her sleep, you do not mess with."
Gillian Anderson and Peter Morgan
Actress Gillian Anderson, 58, discussed living apart from partner Peter Morgan, 61. The couple dated for four years before splitting in 2020 and rekindled their romance in 2023.
In 2020, the Sex Education star told The Sunday Times that cohabiting with The Crown creator would end their relationship. "My partner and I don’t live together. If we did, that would be the end of us. It works so well as it is - it feels so special when we do come together," she said.
Anderson noted that living apart allows her to step over "a pair of trousers left lying on the floor at my partner’s house" without feeling obligated to clean them. She added: "There is nothing locking us in, nothing that brings up that fear of, 'Oh gosh, I can’t leave because what will happen to the house, how will we separate?' I start to miss the person I want to be with, which is a lovely feeling."
Katherine Ryan and Bobby Kootstra
Comedian Katherine Ryan, 43, and husband Bobby Kootstra, who married in 2019, do not share a bed due to co-sleeping with their children. Ryan sleeps with daughter Fenna, three, while Kootstra shares a room with son Fred, two. Ryan had another child in October 2025.
On their show Katherine Ryan: Parental Guidance, Kootstra explained they tried having all four family members in one room, but the children woke each other up. "Katherine and I co-sleep. I like to call it 'man-to-man defence,'" he said, admitting: "I do kind of miss sleeping with my sexy wife."
Kootstra acknowledged the impact on intimacy, saying: "It's probably not been great for our intimacy. So we kind of are missing a couple of different important connections I think for any relationship really." Ryan admitted to him: "I miss sleeping with you, I do." During an appearance on Lorraine, Ryan noted that her children come first and marriage had taken a backseat.
Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin
Film director Baz Luhrmann, 63, and costume designer Catherine Martin, 61, who married in 1997, told the Daily Mail in 2014 that they sleep on separate floors to prevent their relationship from becoming fraught.
Luhrmann explained: "We worked out a long time ago that we both need space. We are surrounded by our teams of staff all day every day, whether travelling, at work and at our homes. I was finding I was saying things in passing that weren't properly thought through, things would become fraught. We both needed time to ourselves."
To stay connected, the couple spend every Saturday night together at a hotel. "We dress up and go to a restaurant or maybe see a show, but mostly we just talk and catch up," Luhrmann said.
Susannah Constantine and Sten Bertelsen
Stylist Susannah Constantine, 64, revealed in a 2023 Daily Mail article that she and husband Sten Bertelsen moved to separate bedrooms due to severe snoring battles, which fixed their marriage.
Constantine wrote: "I wake him, he wakes me, and by morning we are both bleary-eyed, with murder on our minds. Over the years, we've become horribly competitive about who has the least sleep and who snores the loudest and longest, with both of us lobbing accusations and denying guilt."
She added: "When Sten and I first began our sleep divorce, I worried that our kids, aged 24, 22 and 20, would also think it was the beginning of the end; but in truth, I told them, it was the snore storms that were putting a strain on the marriage. This was the fix, not the issue."
Ferne McCann and Lorri Haines
Reality personality Ferne McCann, 33, and entrepreneur fiance Lorri Haines, 33, sleep in separate bedrooms to manage the irregular sleep schedule of their one-year-old daughter Finty. McCann also has a six-year-old daughter, Sunday, from a previous relationship with Arthur Collins.
McCann told OK! magazine that despite a reduced sex life, the arrangement is "honestly perfect." She said: "The last few nights we've been watching Beef on Netflix in bed and having really nice chats and he goes off into his bed. It's honestly perfect."
Sam Faiers and Paul Knightley
Reality star Sam Faiers, 33, revealed on the Parenting Hell podcast in February 2023 that she and property developer Paul Knightley, 36, have slept in separate rooms for six years. The couple share children Paul Jr, eight, Rosie, six, and Edward, two.
Faiers explained that she sleeps in the spare room with Edward while the older children sleep in the master bedroom with Knightley. She first discussed sleeping arrangements on Lorraine in 2018, explaining that co-sleeping was done to ensure everyone got rest.
In a 2018 episode of The Mummy Diaries, Faiers asked Knightley when they would share a bed again, to which he replied: "Once Rosie goes through the night, you can get back in with us." Faiers noted in 2023 that while they remain affectionate, Knightley's habit of watching television late at night makes sharing a bed challenging.
Suranne Jones and Laurence Akers
Actress Suranne Jones, 47, told the Daily Mail in 2020 that she and screenwriter husband Laurence Akers prefer separate beds to ensure good sleep quality.
The Doctor Foster star, who has been married to Akers for 10 years and shares an eight-year-old son with him, said: "A separate bed - there's stigma against that but if we are just tired and I need a good night's sleep, and I want to get to bed at nine o'clock and I don't want to put my ear plugs in or I don't need to be disturbed by snores, then that's OK, to say 'I just need my space.'"
Jones added: "Our weekends are just for us. We have to be together and anchored."
Prue Leith and John Playfair
Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith, 86, clarified on Loose Women in 2019 that while she and husband John Playfair, 78, sleep in the same bed each night at her house, they maintain separate homes for their personal belongings.
Leith, who married fashion designer Playfair in 2016 following the death of her husband Rayne Kruger in 2002, explained: "We live together in my house, sleep together in my house each night, but the thing is, he still has his house where all his stuff is."
She added: "We are both too old and have too much stuff, imagine, me having to move half my clobber out the house for his, he is the most untidy man I have ever met, I am neat and organised."
