Chynna Phillips and Billy Baldwin are revisiting advice from marriage therapy as they try living in separate houses again. In a November 7 video, they discussed what each needs from the relationship and why meeting those needs has become difficult.
Baldwin, 63, has moved into a guesthouse about 50 yards from the main home. Phillips, 58, described the arrangement in October, explaining that it followed a particularly difficult stretch in their marriage.
The Wilson Phillips singer and Backdraft actor married in 1995. They share three adult children, daughters Jameson and Brooke and son Vance.
Their latest conversation, titled My Love Language Is You Talking Less, appears on their joint YouTube channel, Holding On. The couple have been recording discussions about their relationship instead of presenting the move as the end of their marriage.
A Therapist Asked Them to Identify One Unmet Need
Baldwin recalled a therapist asking each spouse to name one important thing missing from the relationship, then challenging the other to provide it. The instruction emphasized effort. “You don’t even have to be particularly good at it. You just have to try,” he recalled the therapist saying, according to TV Insider.
Baldwin described himself as an intense New Yorker, contrasting his approach with his wife’s more relaxed temperament. Phillips asked for “gentle, healing, loving communication,” as Just Jared reported, and encouraged him to let go of some of the pressure he carries.
They also described wanting closeness in a different order. Baldwin said physical intimacy helps him feel more emotionally connected, while he sees Phillips as needing emotional connection first, according to PEOPLE. He said consistently making the effort to meet a partner’s needs becomes harder after decades together, even when the advice itself sounds simple.
Phillips Says the Guesthouse Arrangement Has Been Helping
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In the October clips, Phillips described their marriage as “going down like the Titanic” before they changed their living arrangements. She was cautiously positive about the result. “It’s kind of working,” she said in remarks covered by Realtor.com, while acknowledging that she did not know where it would lead.
Baldwin told Phillips she struggled to admit when she was wrong, and she immediately made the same accusation about him. Phillips questioned the expectation that spouses must share a roof, while Baldwin recalled her saying she wanted to spend her life with him, but in neighboring spaces.
Phillips said recording their discussions had felt cathartic and that she was enjoying the process. In a separate November 7 Instagram message, however, she acknowledged that their current situation was confusing and not something she had imagined for them.
They Reversed an Earlier Decision to Live Apart in December 2024
The couple previously tried a more distant version of the arrangement. In a November 3, 2024, YouTube video, Phillips described staying in Santa Barbara while Baldwin was in Beverly Hills, with plans to alternate between the homes. They would still have date nights, attend therapy, eat with their children and spend time together at the beach or a museum.
Phillips said Baldwin was more hesitant about that experiment than she was, but willing to try. She wanted them to enjoy their time together without feeling obliged to be in each other’s company around the clock.
By December 29, she had reconsidered. In a video covered by Us Weekly, Phillips said she no longer believed separate homes would solve their difficulties. She reported that they were sharing a home again and that their relationship had improved. “He’s been an awesome roommate these past few weeks,” she said.
The couple’s promotional posts advertise November 17 as the launch date for Holding On, with preview clips and conversations already appearing on their joint channel.