BBC newsreader Clive Myrie has been married to wife Catherine for over 25 years and has previously opened up about the reasons why they never had children together

Clive Myrie has spoken about the secret to a happy marriage (Image: Getty)

Veteran journalist Clive Myrie has opened up about the secret to his long-standing marriage, crediting having personal space and individual interests as key components to a strong relationship.

Clive, with his wife Catherine for over two decades, shared with the Guardian: “Figuratively speaking, at least. Having a space that’s your own; spending time alone, to bond when reunited.

“My wife, Catherine, has her own interests. I do, too. We celebrate out 25th anniversary this year, and each still have our own identities.”

Reflecting on the toll that reporting from disaster zones and conflict areas takes on a person, Clive confessed it was “tough” and didn’t shy away from admitting his concern about future PTSD effects: “might hit me one day”.

He also described his strategy for dealing with the residual impact of such intense experiences, which includes disconnecting from news during off periods: “Certain images lives with you forever, but I compartmentalise and rarely keep track of the news when I’m not working. The separation is important, even if memories bleed through.”

Clive Myrie (Image: Getty)

Last year wasn’t the first nor the last time Clive would discuss his and Catherine’s decision to remain childless.

Earlier this year, he delved into their choice, suggesting that his extensive travel for work factored into their decision and that the constant travelling wouldn’t have been fair to children.

He said: “It wasn’t the danger of the job, just the travelling. We felt it would be selfish on children to drag them around the world. We’ve come from big families.”, reports the Daily Record.

Clive added: “I’m from a family of seven (children), Catherine’s from a family of five kids. We weren’t desperate for some kind of familial glue. You get to the point where it’s much more difficult to have a child and then you realise, do we really want that anyway?”

Clive revealed to the Times that he and Catherine had attempted to start a family at one point but ultimately decided against it.

“We were trying for a child, nothing seemed to be happening. We gradually decided it wasn’t for us. We come from such big families, our get-togethers are always huge. We’ve led a fully and happy life and we dote on our nephews and nieces,” Clive told the publication.

Clive met his wife in 1992 at a book launch where he was one of the guests. He would later describe it as “love at first sight”. The couple got married six years later in Covent Garden at the Corpus Christi Catholic Church.