Freddie Prinze Jr reveals why marriage to Sarah Michelle Gellar works: ‘She needs me to sustain herself’

‘We started dating and she’s been my girlfriend ever since’ the actor said in a recent interview

Freddie Prinze Jr has jokingly revealed why his relationship with his wife of 20 years, Sarah Michelle Gellar, has worked so well.

The 46-year-old actor discussed his and Gellar’s marriage while appearing on Wednesday’s episode of The Kyle & Jacki O Show, after first acknowledging that he “hesitates” to offer relationship advice. He then explained the main reason his relationship has lasted for so long.

“The reason why I think Sarah and I work, is one: ‘My mom was a chef and I learned how to cook,’” he said. “And I married someone who couldn’t cook.”

He then jokingly pointed out why the ability is so important in his relationship, and to his wife’s life, adding: “So I’m necessary. She needs me to live and sustain herself.”

Prinze also acknowledged that “laughter” is a big part of his marriage, since he’s been able to make jokes that “make [his spouse] laugh”.

During a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, he also recalled how he and Gellar had been friends first, as they met on the set of the 1997 film, I Know What You Did Last Summer.

He said he made sure to “cook for” Gellar at the time since he thought that she didn’t eat “enough”.

“She didn’t have a driver’s licence so I was her chauffeur, and I would drive her to the gym every day and then go to the store, go get myself some lunch and then drive her back and we would just have an hour drive,” he said.

The She’s All That star proceeded to detail how often he’d drive her places, either during the work day or on their days off.

“We shot in this tiny little crazy town called South Fork. I would drive her to Wilmington every day that we had off, every day during rehearsals and we would have you know 55 minutes -- if I drove the speed limit -- to get to know one another,” Prinze continued.

He noted that their reasons for being just friends at the time had to do with geography: “She was from New York City and I am a SoCal kid, so we were night and day, and it was just our philosophies on life just never clicked.”

However, Prinze said their feelings changed a few years later and they started their relationship.

“Then one day everything clicked, and it was about probably three years later, and we started dating and she’s been my girlfriend ever since,” the Scooby-Doo star said.

This isn’t the first time that Prinze has spoken out about his friendship with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer star. Speaking to US Weekly in 2020, he confessed why he didn’t want to start dating Gellar right after they finished filming I Know What You Did Last Summer.

“By the end of the movie, I just wanted to be friends with her because I thought she was too skinny and I wanted to cook for her. Because that’s what my family does,” he said. “And so, we started this weekly barbecue thing at her house, and me and my cousins would come over and cook food for her and her friends. And then we’d make sure everybody ate, and that was kind of how our friendship began.”

Gellar and Prinze officially tied the knot in 2002. They now share two children, Charlotte, 13, and Rocky, 10.

During his interview with ET, Prinze shared that his daughter wants to become an actor and that encouraged him to star in a new holiday movie, Christmas With You.

“My daughter is starting to have an interest in acting and so my wife and I both kind of said we want to be examples for that,” he said. “My son could care less. He just wants to race cars, go fast and punch people. [So] that was the one part of it.”