Sarah Michelle Gellar opens up about her 17-year marriage with Freddie Prinze Jr.: 'It takes work'

Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. have been married since 2002.

And now Sarah is opening up about how she maintains a happy and healthy marriage while under the Hollywood spotlight. 

She opened up to Us Weekly about her marriage saying: ‘I think the truth of any relationship is that, whether you’re a couple, whether you’re friends, whether you’re business partners, is you have to put the work into a relationship.’

In love: Sarah Michelle Gellar opened up to Us Weekly about how she has made her 17-year marriage work with her husband Freddie Prinze Jr. They are pictured above on their ‘first trip as a new couple’ to Las Vegas

The 42-year-old went on to call the world a ‘very disposable society’ and said, ‘people don’t want to have to work. They want immediate reactions, they want immediate responses. It takes work.’

She continued: ‘It takes work to have a good friendship. You have to call and check in and dedicate that time, and most people aren’t willing to put that work in. So to have a successful relationship, whether it’s marriage, whether it’s friendship, whether it’s business, you have to put the time, if you want to see the results.’ 

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer star also added that ‘to keep a relationship, you have to have stuff that’s private and things that are your own and between the two of you.’

Happy: The two pose as they arrive at the 15th Annual Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards back in 2002

The two love birds first met back in 1997 when they both starred in I Know What You Did Last Summer. 

But it wasn’t love at first sight as they didn’t begin dating until about 2000 and got engaged just a year later.

And then just before the two exchanged their vows in Mexico in September 2002 they starred in Scooby-Doo in June as Daphne Blake and Fred Jones.

They later returned for the sequel in 2004 for Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.

Adorable: The happy couple smile as they pose at the UK premiere of Hairspray in July 2007

The two share their daughters Charlotte, 10, and Rocky, aged seven.

In the midst of it all, Sarah has been able to maintain a successful acting career staring in movies such as Cruel Intentions and The Grudge to television series like Star Wars Rebels and The Crazy Ones.

She is also gearing up for two more shows in 2020 titled, Other People’s Houses and Sometimes I Lie. Neither have release dates. 

Family time: The two share two little girls and are pictured above holding all their goodies at an adventure park