Chrissy Teigen Shares Her Secret to Keeping 12-Year Marriage to John Legend Strong — and It Involves Keeping Things ‘Sexy’

Chrissy Teigen knows how to keep her husband John Legend on his toes.

The 40-year-old cookbook author shared her secret to keeping the spark alive with her singer-songwriter husband, 47, on the Star Search red carpet on Wednesday, Jan. 21 — and said part of it is never showing the more unattractive parts of her life.

“For all he knows, I have never farted or pooped,” she told E! News.

“[You’ve] got to keep the sexy and preserve the sexy in a little bit of ways,” she explained. “I won’t say that John necessarily does that all the time, but I make sure that I do.”

Her Star Search co-star Sarah Michelle Gellar also shared her own key to keeping her marriage with Freddie Prinze Jr. going strong 22 years later: having “separate bathrooms.”

Teigen and Legend have previously shared some insight into their relationship in the past. Last September, the “All of Me” singer told PEOPLE at the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) Gala at The Beverly Hilton that he and his wife “feel like we’ve grown together as a couple.”

“And I think being parents forces you to grow up, and it changes your priorities,” he explained, citing his and Teigen’s children, Luna Simone, 9, Miles Theodore, 7, Esti Maxine and Wren Alexander, both 2. “But also, [for] all the joy we’ve experienced together, we’ve also had tragedy together and challenges together.”

“I think all of that helps cement the bond and the relationship that you have, because you know you can go through all this together with a partner, and I think that’s really been the story of our relationship,” Legend added. “We’ve grown up together and been through all the highs and lows together.”

Teigen and Legend got engaged in 2011 while vacationing together in the Maldives and were legally married at a New York City courthouse on Sept. 10, 2013, with Irina Shayk serving as their witness. Days later, the couple wed in Lake Como, Italy. 

The couple then marked their tenth wedding anniversary in 2023 by renewing their vows in Italy. The Cravings author previously told PEOPLE the event was “so f—-ing sweet and amazing.”

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Throughout their marriage, the pair has been candid about the challenges they’ve faced together, but noted that communication has been key to getting through difficult times. 

“We have the same communication issues as other people,” Teigen shared in 2020, explaining that Legend “loves to talk about scheduling and work” while she prefers to focus on something else during their time together. “It’s just [about] being open.”

Legend admitted that he and his wife have “different communication styles,” though they’ve learned how to “work around each other and know what works for one person versus the other.”