Sir Stephen Fry has shared the “remarkable” and “insane” effect the 30-year age gap with his husband Elliott Spencer has had on his life.
The actor, 67, married comedian and actor Spencer, 38, at a Norfolk registry office in January 2015 - 10 days after they announced their engagement.
The notoriously private couple, who haven’t been pictured together in public since 2019, are believed to have met in 2012 after being introduced by mutual friends at a house party.
Fry gave a rare insight into their relationship while appearing on Rylan Clark’s new podcast, Rylan: How to Be in Love.
“He teaches me things I just didn't know,” the Quite Interesting host said.
“He introduced me to Kendrick Lamar, which was a great thing to do because Kendrick Lamar I've decided is a great poetical spirit, a really remarkable figure.”
Fry went on: “But that, plus, now you're really going to laugh here because I thought, is he insane? He has a great affection for, and I guess you could call it ironic, but it's real - for WWE...”
Clark asked: “Are you now a fan of WWE?”
Fry admitted: “I kind of am yeah, and I just don't know whether I can reveal this extraordinary truth, but I have bought a couple of tickets for WrestleMania in Las Vegas.”
He added that the secret to their “successful relationship” was being “cheerful” as well as mindful of each other’s moods.
“I can tell you how to have a successful relationship with Elliot, but that's probably not very helpful,” the comedian said.
“But I guess it’s all the normal human virtues - some of which are forgotten virtues - but one of the most important human virtues, I think, isn't even really considered a virtue.
“But it is one that changes the world. And it's not kindness, which obviously is important, but it's a subset of kindness, perhaps. And it's cheerfulness.”
The presenter - who celebrated his 10th wedding anniversary with Spencer in January - said: “When you're in the presence of a cheerful person, It makes everything better. They're like their own sunshine. So that's one of the things. If one is down to help the other come up...
“And understand each other's differences as emotional human beings. For example, I had to understand, and he had to understand, that I am extremely energetic and bouncy and chatty in the mornings at breakfast and he is not.
“So I had to find ways of just calming myself and he had to come up a little bit and not be quite so kind of, ‘Will you shut up Stephen!’”
