Rick Astley believes the secret to his happy marriage is having "respect" for each other
The 60-year-old pop star has been with his wife Lene Bausager - the mother of his grown-up daughter Emilie - since 1989 and he's insisted "respect" is just as important as love in a relationship.
12 February 2026
He told The Telegraph newspaper: "We've been married for 13 years but we've known each other since 1987 and been together since 1989.
"A lot of a relationship comes down to respect. Respect is possibly even a bigger word than love - you can love someone, but if you don't respect them, you won't stay with them."
The couple currently live in Surrey, England but Astley admitted they are considering moving further into the countryside or even swapping the UK for Italy.
He explained: "I like living in a leafy suburb. We might move even further into the countryside, and we've often talked about living up a hill in Italy - that would be our dream."
The singer now lives a quiet life when he's not on tour admitting he enjoys having dinner at home with his wife and friends as well as long walks by the river.
He previously admitted he spent years healing because fame was so difficult to deal with and it took a lot of therapy for him to be able to move forward with his life.
He told The Sunday Times newspaper: "I was probably a bit messed up. I don't think anybody goes through that kind of 15 minutes of fame and doesn't come away with a few scars ...
"I think it's weird I had this crazy monster hit around the world and no one ever took me aside and said: 'By the way, here's a few tips, here are a few hints.'
"I didn't really know who I was a lot of the time. I kind of thought: 'Who have I just been for five years?' Part of it was definitely me, but a lot of it wasn't."
Rick previously named fame as his biggest disappointment in life, telling the Guardian newspaper: "Fame. The upside is not worth the downside - you can't turn fame on and off, and have privacy."
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