Why Billy Baldwin Didn't Live With His Wife Chynna Phillips Baldwin

Actor Billy Baldwin and musician Chynna Phillips have been married since 1995. And while Phillips insists that she and the "Backdraft" star are still deeply in love, she also says that sometimes, they just need a break from one another. That's why the "Naked and Sacred" singer and her longtime beau worked out an arrangement where they would return to separate houses after spending time together.

Phillips, who has long been open about her marriage woes with Baldwin, explained their new living situation in a YouTube video she posted in early November 2024. "I said to Billy, 'Look, why don't we just do a little test run to see what it feels like to have me in Santa Barbara, you in Beverly Hills, and then we flip-flop. Then in between, we have date nights together, we have therapy, we have dinner with the children and we go to the beach or the museum,'" Phillips said in the video, adding that she and Baldwin would still occasionally spend the night together as well, but just wouldn't be together all day every day.

Phillips said that while she and Baldwin love each other, they don't always bring out the best in each other. "We cherish our marriage, we don't ever want to separate," the Wilson Phillips member explained, adding, "We just need a little time apart because we are sort of an allergy to one another. And it's OK. I'm sure lots of different couples are allergies to each other."

Though Chynna Phillips initially spoke highly of her and husband Billy Baldwin's unique living situation, she ended up walking back some of her comments after the two decided to return to something a bit more traditional. In a follow-up YouTube video posted in late December 2024, just three days before the new year, Phillips revealed that she and Baldwin had once again moved in together. "He's been an awesome roommate these past few weeks. I don't know, there's been a shift. Maybe it's me, maybe it's him, maybe it's God — maybe it's a little bit of everything. But, I feel like we're in a way, way better place," Phillips said, adding, "I'm so grateful."

Phillips also took the time to retract what she said about her and Baldwin's separate living arrangement being a treatment for their so-called "allergy" to one another. The singer admitted that the whole experiment was ill-informed and ultimately unhelpful — maybe even actively harmful — in terms of addressing the dissonance that exists between the couple. To that end, while the "allergy" comment wasn't necessarily inaccurate, Phillips realized there were better ways she and Baldwin could address that allergy than by keeping each other at a distance for extended periods of time. "That allergy medication is communication, being kind and gentle, being more tolerant and really seeking out ways to be kind and supportive and more playful," Phillips explained. Of course, there's nothing to say they won't live separately again in the future, but for now, they're happy cohabitating.