Mike Tindall Said His Marriage to Zara Isn't Just "Roses and Rainbows

Zara Phillips and boyfriend, rugby player Mike Tindall attend the third day of Cheltenham Races

(Image credit: Getty/Tim Graham)

published 26 November 2021

Mike Tindall has come through with some refreshing honesty about his marriage to the Queen's granddaughter Zara (formerly Phillips).

The former rugby player and podcast host recently appeared on British TV show Loose Women, renamed Loose Men that day for International Men's Day, to speak about men's mental health and other issues.

"A marriage or long-term relationship can’t always be roses and rainbows," he said on the show (via Us Weekly).

"When you have children, that is a massive shock, change to your system that you’ve never experienced and there is going to be those rocky roads," he continued. "There are things that are thrown at you that have to test both of you and that will test that relationship. The thing is no one is right, no one is wrong. You have to work through it together."

He explained that he and his wife have a different attitude to fights, but that they balance each other out. "The thing is no one’s right, no one’s wrong, you have to work through it together," he said. "She’ll stay angry whereas I can have a full barney and, because of rugby, I can have a full barney at someone when they’ve done it wrong and then I can [say], 'Shall we have a hug?'"

The couple married in July 2011, shortly after Zara's cousin William's marriage to Kate Middleton, and share children Mia, Lena and Lucas.

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Bustle and Shape. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.