“Harry Potter ”Actress Imelda Staunton Reveals Secret to Her 40-Year Marriage with “Downton Abbey” Costar Jim Carter

The actress shares how they've "made our lives work as a marriage within this business"

Imelda Staunton puts family ahead of career.

The Harry Potter alum, 68, and her longtime husband, Downton Abbey costar Jim Carter, prioritize their life together ahead of their work, Staunton said in a new interview with British Vogue.

"Success means working. Success is a really tricky word, and it should be spelled with a very small S. I think it poisons people," said Staunton. "I feel Jim and I have made our lives work as a marriage within this business, and we take our life more seriously than our jobs."

"Of course, we both take [the job] very seriously," she continues. "But you go, 'What’s the most important thing here? That I play another part? Or that we go on a very nice holiday, or that we have that time in the garden, that we have our life?' "

"But we can afford to say that — I don’t mean financially, but with the work we’ve done and are lucky enough to still be doing. I think we know how fortunate we are," said Staunton.

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The couple, who married in 1983, share daughter Bessie, 29. Staunton, who played Queen Elizabeth on The Crown, also told British Vogue the ways she and Carter, 75, have coordinated their busy schedules around their family life.

“I think when we got married, we did say, 'Look, there’s no point if we’re going to be apart,' " she said.

"Early on, Jim did a lot more telly and films than I was doing in the ’80s. If he was going to go to an exotic location, we’d go, ‘Right, well, I can come out that weekend.’ So we made that work. Or there’s two jobs: 'I can go and do that. Do you need to do that? Okay? Lovely.' ”

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