Sir Michael Caine says the secret to a happy marriage is to have separate bathrooms.
The ‘Dark Knight Rises’ actor has been married to actress-and-model Shakira Baksh for 42 years and he claims if a couple wants to stay together they each need their own comfort facilities or at the least allocated time in the bathroom.
Caine insists he would be able to ”get in there” if he and Shakira had a shared bathroom and be relegated to just having a ”razor in a corner”.
When asked what the secret of a ”really successful marriage” is in the new issue of Esquire magazine, he said: ”You start with two bathrooms. You never share a bathroom with your wife. Otherwise, you have a little tiny corner with a razor and a toothbrush in it, and you never get in there.”
The 81-year-old screen legend also believes for a relationship to work you need to be equal in your life together and you must include each other in all your decision making.
He explained: ”You become equal partners. My wife and I are equal in everything. There’s no little woman married to the big film star or s**t like that. She runs the whole business and we’re equal partners in it, and she does as much work off screen as I do on it, which is terribly important. And she comes with me everywhere I go, because if you’re on your own, you start having your own friends that the other one doesn’t know … That’s the most important part – you must not lead parallel lives. You’ve got to introduce your wife to everything.”
The two-time Oscar winner also claimed if you’re an actor who is surrounded by beautiful women all day at work then ”you’d better have someone beautiful to go home to, and I do”.
Caine and Shakira have a daughter, Natasha, together and he also has another daughter, Dominique, from his marriage to actress Patricia Haines which lasted from 1955 to 1962.