Sleep Divorced

Sleeping in separate beds is known as being 'sleep divorced', although it isn't usually have anything to do with intimacy. Most people sleep separately because one person's sleep problems affect the other or because they have conflicting sleep schedules.

Sleep divorce is more common than you think, and hundreds of celebrity couples sleep separately. This article explores some celebrity couples who are sleep divorced (officially or rumoured).

Let's jump in!

Victoria and David Beckham

Victoria and David Beckham sleep in separate beds on some nights with designated "his" and "her" wings. In 2017, The Sun reported that the couple's different lifestyles created a lot of friction in their relationship.

Separate sleeping is a release for the couple, helping them both sleep properly and carry out their busy schedules.

Angelia Jolie and Brad Pitt

Angelia Jolie and Brad Pitt were well known to sleep in separate beds on some nights, a typical behaviour in busy couples. Reports of separate bedrooms date to 2009 with The Daily Mail.  

It's important to say that the couple denied rumours that their relationship was in trouble at the time of the 2009 revelations. However, it was only seven years later, in 2006, that Angelina Jolie filed for divorce, which still isn't settled.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Falchuk

Gwyneth Paltrow has gone on record with The Sunday Times saying that she and her partner, Brad Falchuk, slept in separate beds early on in the relationship on the advice of an intimacy coach to keep things fresh.

The couple has since moved in together and is well over the honeymoon period, so they likely sleep together every night now.

Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton

Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton shared a duplex in which they didn't just sleep in different beds but different houses! This setup gave each person a separate space where they could be themselves.

A report in the Daily Mail in 2010 revealed that Helena preferred having a separate space, as did Tim. The couple divorced in 2014 after 13 years of marriage.

Donald and Melania Trump

According to Mary Jordan, a Melania biographer, Donald, and Melania Trump sleep in separate beds. "I don't know any couple that spends as much time apart," Jordan muses in her biography of the US first lady, "Trump love is complicated."

It's easy to say that the Trumps have an odd relationship from the outside, but separate sleeping isn't strange at all – it makes sense for two of the busiest people on the planet.  

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip

It is disrespectful to call them celebrities, but our dear late Queen slept in a separate bed from her beloved Prince Phillip throughout her life, which is typical for upper-class people and royalty from that era.

Sleeping in separate beds is considered perfectly normal for people born before 1940, especially those with crown jewels.

Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker

Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker went to extreme lengths to create their own space with conscious coupling, where they live in adjoining townhouses with quarters for him and her. Talk about ultimate – but loving – separation!

The setup was nothing to do with intimacy – it was created to compromise on Parker's neat lifestyle and Broderick's unkempt one.

Ryan O'Neal and Farrah Fawcett

Ryan O'Neal and Farrah Fawcett slept in separate beds during their marriage; something O'Neal says he deeply regrets. In his 2012 memoir, O'Neal writes that their "love was put on mute," so they retired to "separate bedrooms".

This sad story demonstrates that sleep divorce can indicate relationship stress. After two decades together, the couple split in 1998.

Separate sleeping isn't weird or bad!

If you or a couple you know sleeps separately, don't judge a book by its cover – while it can indicate relationship issues, it is more likely to indicate sleep issues with one person. Snoring is a massive reason behind most sleep divorces!

Related pages

• Why Every Relationship Needs Plenty of Sleep
• What do couples’ sleeping positions reveal about relationships?