Ed Burns Says ‘2-Week Rule’ Helped Sustain 22-Year Marriage to Supermodel Christy Turlington

Burns said the agreement sometimes required professional sacrifices but helped preserve stability at home.

Actor Edward Burns and model Christy Turlington arrive for an event in New York City on Sept. 15, 2022. Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Actor and filmmaker Ed Burns says a simple agreement he made with his wife, supermodel Christy Turlington, early in their marriage has played a significant role in keeping their relationship strong for more than two decades.

“My wife and I, very early on, had an agreement, because our respective jobs do require a bit of travel,” Burns said in a recent interview with Fox News.

“We had a two-week rule where neither one of us was allowed to be gone for more than two weeks at a time. And a lot of times, we had to look at our calendars and sometimes say no to a particular job that would require travel that might have us gone for a longer period of time.”

Burns, 57, said the agreement sometimes required professional sacrifices but helped preserve stability at home during the busiest years of their marriage. While the couple’s situation has evolved as their children have grown, the guiding principle remains.

“Now that we’re empty nesters, we don’t have to stick to that in the same way,” he said. “But we still try not to do jobs that will have us away from one another for too long.”

The couple married in 2003 and share two children: daughter Grace McKenna, now 22, and son Finn, 19.

Burns has similarly spoken about another rule the couple followed while raising their children, ensuring that both parents were never away for work at the same time. In a 2024 interview with People, Burns said career decisions were often weighed carefully to make sure one parent remained home.

“I think the big thing for us is, given both of our careers, we absolutely never traveled at the same time,” Burns said at the time. “So, we’d look at, if a job came up for me or a job came up for her, we would have to make a decision. If they happened at the same time, someone would have to pass, so that somebody was always home.”

“That was the bigger rule that we had,” he added. “We agreed on that early on, and fortunately, it really worked out for us, and I think more importantly, worked out for the kids.”

Burns emerged as a prominent figure in American independent cinema in the 1990s, gaining widespread recognition with “The Brothers McMullen,” a low-budget film he wrote, directed, and starred in that went on to achieve both critical and commercial success. The sequel, “The Family McMullen,” was released this October.