'It Makes The Peaks Even Better': How The Lows Have Strengthened Melissa Joan Hart's Marriage

Want to know the secret to a happy marriage? According to "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" actor Melissa Joan Hart, it isn't magic. In fact, she admitted to Us Weekly that staying connected with her husband, Mark Wilkerson, after more than two decades of marriage isn't always easy. But she and Wilkerson have learned how to navigate the ups and downs together. "If there's a spark and there's love in the beginning, then you can always come back to that," Hart shared. "So trying to remember that the valleys or the lows or the times when you don't feel that connected, you can ride that out and it makes the peaks even better."

But no marriage is perfect, and sometimes outside help offers a different perspective. Hart told the outlet that she and Wilkerson have been in couples counseling to help them get through the tough times. According to Hart, getting through the lows of her marriage "makes the good stuff so much more worthwhile."

So, what exactly does this adorable couple argue about? Hart told Us Weekly in a different interview that they don't always agree on politics. "When we know there is an election coming up and whatnot, [we know] some things are going to get a little wild, but we are just trying to make sure to find that common ground and we have the same goals [for how] we want to raise our kids and just base everything in love," she revealed, adding, "It's not easy though" (via Fox News).

Melissa Joan Hart and Mark Wilkerson, a musician, first met in 2002 at a Kentucky Derby event. Hart says she knew she was going to marry her husband from the start. By July of 2003, Hart and Wilkerson said "I do" in Florence, Italy. Hart shares three sons with Wilkerson — Mason, born in 2006, Braydon, born in 2008, and Tucker, born in 2012. After Braydon was born, Wilkerson decided to become a stay-at-home dad so that Hart could focus on her entertainment career. (As the actor's career has evolved, so has her style, as evidenced by Melissa Joan Hart's complete transformation). 

As Hart's children grew into teenagers, Hart and Wilkerson realized they needed to work on how they communicated in front of them. Hart told Us Weekly in 2023 she and Wilkerson used to have fun "bickering" with each other early on in their relationship, but once they saw their teens mimicking their behavior, they realized change was needed. "We're trying to be careful about how we talk to each other and just trying to lean into each other a little bit more to support [each other] as a team," she explained. 

We love how real Hart is when it comes to speaking out about marriage, parenting, and her own perimenopausal weight-loss journey. At the end of the day, Hart says her marriage is about working through the rough times, sticking it out together, and remembering where you came from.