Sheryl Lee Ralph Defends Her Unconventional Marriage to Vincent Hughes: ‘I Have My Own Life’

Sheryl Lee Ralph and her husband, Vincent Hughes, remain blissfully in love after two decades of marriage — even though they don’t often live together.

“I’m very fortunate. The man that I am married to is Senator Vincent Hughes, seventh Senatorial District of Pennsylvania,” the Abbott Elementary star, 68, told People in a profile published on Wednesday, January 8. “You fall in love with somebody and you realize he’s not leaving his career. He’s not leaving Philadelphia. I’m not leaving Hollywood. When you have children, it’s very difficult.”

Ralph and Hughes, 68, have been married since 2005. The actress was previously married to Eric Maurice, with whom she shares son Etienne and daughter Ivy-Coco.

Ralph is based in Los Angeles, where she films ABC’s Abbott Elementary, while Hughes keeps a residency in Pennsylvania for his political constituency.

“Every two weeks we saw each other, and it has continued to work out well,” she explained to the outlet. When I go to see him, I love to see him. When it’s time to leave, ‘Bye-bye. See you soon.’ I’m telling you, life is good.”

Ralph continued, “He has his own life. I have my own life. He has his own real career, I have my own real career. He has his light to stand in, I have my light to stand in. He is not looking at me thinking about status or this or that. He’s doing his thing. I get to do my thing.”

That being said, Ralph and Hughes remain each other’s biggest career cheerleaders.

“It’s all good,” Ralph explained, citing communication as their secret to success. “I’ve evolved into [saying], ‘Let’s talk about it.’ If you sit in problems, you get anxious, depressed, and all the juiciness in life starts to dry up. I can’t have that, because all of that will mess with my good looks!”

Ralph’s bicoastal marriage initially raised eyebrows years earlier in 2023.

“I see him every two weeks and when I see him I’m so happy to see him and then when I’m leaving I’m so happy to leave ‘cause I know I’ll be back again!” Ralph told Extra in December 2023.

Weeks later, she reiterated that the long-distance romance works for them.

“[Vincent and I] live together on and off, in that I’m shooting Abbott Elementary in L.A. [and] he is at the Capitol every week,” Ralph told E! News. “So, we see each other in between [our busy schedules].”