Inbetweeners star James Buckley reveals his ONE secret to a happy marriage with wife Clair after over a decade of marriage and two children

James Buckley has revealed his one secret to his happy marriage with wife Clair after over a decade of marriage together.

The Inbetweeners star, who played Jay Cartwright, 38, married Clair in 2012 and the loved-up couple have two sons together.

James and Claire have now shared the one simple thing that keeps their marriage strong after all this time.

The pair said how ‘sharing the load’ between each other is the key to a long-lasting union.

Clair explained: ‘The four most important words in any marriage are “I’ll do the dishes”.’

She continued: ‘Nothing shouts love like a partner who shares the load. James does need some nudging now and then, he is more of a “I’ll put the bins out” kind of guy, but between us we seem to make it work.’ 

James and model Clair share son Harrison, 11, and nine-year-old Jude.

The couple host their own YouTube series and James is thought to have made more than £1 million through the celebrity greetings website Cameo.

Speaking as they promoted the Philips 4000 Series Stacked Dual Basket Airfryer, James and Clair added that ‘being mates’, laughing often and clearing Friday nights for each other are other important factors too for a healthy relationship.

Speaking in 2023, the pair candidly admitted how their marriage almost hit the rocks over a pair of lingerie. 

They revealed they had a row after a pair of women’s pants ended up in his washing cycle.

Clair explained that she had been emptying the washing machine of her husband’s things when she spotted the offending item and immediately went ‘bounding up the stairs’ to confront him.

James said at the time: ‘Your sister had stayed with us recently and used the washing machine so I said “they’re obviously your sisters!” They were a bit sexy, which I don’t like to say about your sister! All silk and bows.’ 

Claire responded: ‘I said “they’re not hers, I’d never seen them before!” My sister stays with me a lot and we basically have the same underwear because our mum buys us them for Christmas.’

A panicked James admitted he knew it ‘looked bad’ but was unable to give Clair an explanation, prompting her to storm out of the room.

James confessed: ‘I sat in the room thinking “this is going to be it.” She’s gonna divorce me and I am going to spend the rest of my life thinking “where the f**k did those pants come from!”

‘It was a good 20 minutes of my life, I could see my future, being a 90-year-old man going “I don’t know where they came from!”

Clair revealed that after 10 tense minutes, her sister responded to her text asking if the pants were hers, admitting: ‘I nearly left James!’ as James agreed: ‘You would do!

‘If there was no explanation she’s got to leave me, she’d be insane if she didn’t.’

Meanwhile, earlier this year, James admitted he ‘doesn’t have much drive’ to be an actor as he opened up about his career.

The actor, who found fame in the E4 sitcom The Inbetweeners in the late 2000s portraying character Jay Cartwright, revealed he isn’t ‘desperate’ to take on new roles. 

Instead James explained during an appearance on James Martin’s Saturday Kitchen on ITV, that his ‘favourite thing to do is to be at home’.

He said: ‘I’ve got a film coming out next year at some point. It’s called Mother’s Pride, I’ve just done that with Martin Clunes, which was a lot of fun.

‘But I’m not desperate to be an actor. I don’t really have much drive, to be honest. My favourite thing to do is to be at home. It’s got all my favourite people there, it’s got all my stuff there.’