Toyah Willcox is a four time Brit Award nominated singer who has had eight Top 40 singles and released more than 20 albums. The 61-year-old musician from Birimingham is also an author and actress, having written two books and appeared in more than 40 stage plays and 10 films – and now she will compete on BBC’s Pointless Celebrities. She married guitarist Robert Fripp, known for position in progressive rock band King Crimson, in 1986 – but why has Toyah said the secret to marital bliss is separate houses, and ‘very naughty’ sex?
Toyah Willcox, 61, has had a very lengthy career, since fronting band Toyah in 1983, before embarking on a solo career.
As a singer, songwriter, and actor, she has achieved many accolades, but one of her happiest achievements was meeting her husband Robert Fripp.
The couple met at a charity lunch, first in 1983 and then in 1985.
Speaking to the Independent, he said: “My life really began when I met this little creature and she became my wife.
“It was like an arranged marriage.
“We didn’t know each other, but it was perfectly clear to me within a week of knowing Toyah that she was the woman I wanted to be my wife – just as I knew within a fairly short time of having a guitar in my hands at the age of 11 that this was going to be my life.
“We got to know each other within the commitments and vows of marriage.”
In a 2008 Belfast Telegraph interview she said of Mr Fripp: “I got married because I had found my soulmate, not because I wanted to be married.”
She married Robert Fripp, now 73, in 1986 in Poole, Dorset and the couple has been happy ever since.
According to Toyah, the unorthodox recipe to their happiness is having separate houses.
Speaking on Loose Women in 2016, she said: “The secret is – please don’t quote me – I hardly see him!”
She revealed that she and Mr Fripp have a house each, so although they spend a great deal of their time together, they also have somewhere to escape to.
She said: “We live in the same house now, but we used to have two separate houses. He still has his 200 yards away, but he doesn’t go there so much anymore.”
Toyah added: “However – this is the real secret – we have a snore room!
“He snores, so after decades of sleepless nights, I said ‘please, please can we have somewhere for you to go when you sound like a foghorn!’”
However, the other women on the show queried the impact this could have on the couple’s intimacy.
Martine Mccutcheon asked: “So you’ve got your bedroom for the time to be lovely and gorgeous together and you’ve got the snore room when you just want a good night’s sleep?”
But Toyah stressed that despite the separate houses, she and her husband are “still very naughty in the bedroom.”
Pointless Celebrities will air on BBC One at 5.45pm today.