More than 20 years after falling in love with one another as college sweethearts, Sterling K. Brown and Ryan Michelle Bathé are going stronger than ever.
During a live taping of “That Was Us,” a rewatch podcast dedicated to Brown’s beloved NBC series “This Is Us,” the 49-year-old actor reflected on “This Is Us” characters Toby and Kate’s marriage and eventually divorce and related it to his near 20-year marriage to Bathé.
“I celebrate 20 years of marriage [in March],” Brown told the audience at The Wiltern in Los Angeles on January 17. “My wife is the love of my life, not because it’s always easy, but because we keep choosing each other. You know what I’m saying? So even when we’re not perfect for each other, you can still choose each other and just choose to be perfect for each other.”
Brown and Bathé eloped in 2006 before having a larger wedding a year later. But their love story also had its fair share of ups and downs.
Although Brown and Bathé met while they were students at Stanford University in the ’90s, the two dated on and off before splitting when they graduated in 1998. As time would have it, the two longtime loves weren’t completely out of each other’s orbit.
After rekindling their relationship, the pair were wed in March 2006 and became parents, to son Andrew in 2011 and son Amaré in 2015.
In 2019, upon hearing “This Is Us” was being renewed for another season, Brown explained why he took plenty from his real-life marriage to apply to his character, Randall Pearson. Plus, he gave a little marital advice for those who found inspiration between Randall and Beth.
“The only thing you can do to be a husband worth your salt is keep trying. Don’t throw in the towel. Figure it out if you can,” he says. “I was touched to see just how invested people were in our relationship and moved by it. If it doesn’t work with Beth and Randall, I don’t know if I can take it. My own wife told me if Cookie and Luscious can figure it out, Beth and Randall better get their stuff together.”
He added, “I don’t feel any level of pressure other than to try and tell the truth and I’m thankful I have a marriage of 13 years to draw from in order to know the truth of what marriage is. Mine is loving and caring and complicated. The best of marriages are complicated. People get on each other’s nerves from time to time but at the end of the day you do the work you need to do to move forward. That’s what Beth and Randall did and I love that.”
Expect to see more of Brown and Bathé on the small screen together as she joins the cast of the hit Hulu series “Paradise” for season 2.
