Claire Danes Says It Was 'Tough' Living Apart from Husband Hugh Dancy While Filming 'Homeland'

Claire Danes is speaking candidly about her time being long-distance with husband Hugh Dancy

In a recent interview with Net-A-Porter’s digital title, Porter, the 40-year-old actress recalled the difficulties of living in North Carolina to film Homelandfor several years of her marriage to Dancy, who remained in New York for his own acting career.

“That was tough,” she admitted. “That distance is corrosive, and I’m just bad at it. And I don’t particularly want to get good at it. We learned along the way how essential it is for us to be physically together as often as possible.”

However, the couple — who have been married since 2009 — were able to live and work together once the Hannibal actor, 44, landed a role in the final season of his wife’s hit Showtime series as a foreign officer to the president.

Claire and Hugh

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“That was such a nice way to end the show,” Danes said. “I didn’t have a single scene with him, but on my days off, I would go to his set. He’s very good. I don’t exactly forget that, but we don’t talk about acting much, so it was a really nice reminder.”

“Watching your partner do something they are really good at,” Danes added, “is so hot”.

Danes and Dancy met in 2006 on the set of the film Evening. And according to Danes, she knew it was the real deal thanks to a sweet interaction they shared at a Christmas party.

“When we first started sorta-kinda-dating for real (ish), I had an ornament-making party for Christmas, and he helped organize it,” she recalled. “Then he made an ornament of cowboy paper dolls, and I thought, ‘and he crafts?’ That was it. “You have me for the rest of our lives.”

Claire and Hugh

With over a decade of marriage under their belt, Danes and Dancy now reside together in Manhattan with their sons Cyrus Michael Christopher, 7, and Rowan, 17 months.

Danes went on an extended hiatus from filming Homeland while pregnant with Rowan.

“It feels like a huge luxury,” she said in June 2018. “When I was pregnant with my first son, I worked until I was in my eighth month, so this feels like a huge gift, to have a chance to kick my feet up a little bit.”.

Danes’ longtime role in Homeland as Carrie Mathison comes to an end after the series’ eighth and final season, which kicks off on Feb. 9