Mary Berry, 91, talks marriage rules after 60 years with husband

The TV legend was a judge on the show during the BBC years between 2010 and 2016, before it left for Channel 4.

She has lived in Henley, in the south of Oxfordshire, with her husband Paul Hunnings, since 2019, having previously lived in London.

Now, Dame Mary has opened up about the couple’s marriage after recently celebrating 60 years together.

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Speaking on Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast, the 89-year-old said: “We’ve been married 60 years… We’ve never had a cross word.”

She told Ms Cotton that neither she nor Mr Hunnings can “bear shouting” and credited their long relationship to two deceptively simple rules.

These two rules are thinking before speaking in the heat of the moment and being ready to apologise.

Explaining how she deals with irritation, Dame Mary said: “When you think, ‘I can’t believe that he’s done that’ or ‘How stupid!’ I will walk into the garden and walk around and think, ‘Now, am I going to say something? I think we’ll just let it pass.’”

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She added that if a cooling-off lap of the garden is not enough, the next step is to say sorry, even if that feels uncomfortable.

Describing a friend’s three sons, she said: “At each of the weddings of these sons, you know, the vicar talks to them. And to each of these boys, she said, remember to say sorry.”

Dame Mary told the podcast that both partners can apologise, but many couples avoid it “because it’s rather difficult, because you always think you’re perfect. It does help to say sorry.”

The former Bake Off star has previously said she now “looks after” her 93-year-old husband as he has become frailer in recent years.