Idris Elba admits he was not the best boyfriend when he started dating now-wife Sabrina Dhowre Elba. The Luther star said he struggled with his temper, which led to angry outbursts and “tantrums.”
“Sabrina and I, very early in our relationship, I was very stressed so I had these massive anger tantrums that were like explosion,” Elba recently revealed during their Coupledom podcast, according to The Daily Mail.
The British actor admits his outbursts would cause Sabrina to ask “Who are you?,” which sometimes caused Elba to give an ultimatum to his then-girlfriend.
“I was always the first to say, ‘Hey, if you’re not happy, leave. Move,'” the Emmy nominee recalled. “It was kind of like a male instinct.”
Elba wasn’t proud of his past behavior and admits he’s “been getting better” at working toward more peaceful resolutions.
“Sabrina and I both have strong personalities and typically it’s Sabrina who says, ‘Look, I don’t want to fight,'” he explained. “I’ve been getting better at it recently but when I do it, I get nothing back. When she does it, I go, ‘Thank you.'”
The star of the forthcoming The Suicide Squad said working through his anger has helped him forge a stronger bond with his wife, whom he wed in 2019. He adds the two have been “literally inseparable since we met” in 2017.
“I’d say we’re in a good place,” Elba assessed. “It was a challenging year, but ultimately, when you look to the side and you’ve got someone that’s been there, ride or die, that’s really comforting.”
Sabrina added, “We’re newly business partners, but we’re also newlyweds. Idris is my best friend. I want to be around this guy every day of my life, so it’s really great to be able to see what that morphs into.”
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