AOL Talks With "Bachelorette" Winner Trista Sutter On How She Stays Married

[JamesG]

As another Bachelor contestant found love this week (when Melissa Rycroft got married) off the TV show, it was a reminder of how tough finding love on reality TV can be.

The most famous example of longevity is the six-year marriage of Ryan and Trista Sutter, who met on ABC's The Bachelorette in 2002. While many other reality romances have perished (with a few notable exceptions), the Sutters, who have two kids, Max, 2, and Blakesley, 8 months, are still together, living in Colorado.

While the couple keeps its distance from the glaring lights of Hollywood, Trista caught up with Inside TV at Tuesday's JCPenney "Joy of Giving" party in West Hollywood, and talked about how she and Ryan keep their marriage solid, the "hard work" behind it, and building a house.



How are you liking being a mom?

Everyday, I love walking in and seeing my baby girl smiling from ear to ear for me in the morning. I love getting hugs.

Not that I ever want my child to hurt, but if Max is like, 'Mommy, mommy,' just knowing that I can be that person for him and be there for him, it's the absolute best thing that has ever happened to me.




What kind of dad is Ryan?

So much fun. He is so excited for Blakesley, our youngest, to be able to play like Max is. Because he wants to get down and dirty with her. He wants to be able to take her out in the snow, and teach her how to go sledding, build snowmen, and go skiing.

He is so much fun and always really lively with them. Also calming. Blakesley was crying, and he was trying to soothe her and be there for her.




Being the most famous reality couple still together, what is your secret?

I think it's a mixture of the fact that I think really somebody is watching over us. Maybe not fact, but I believe that. We are committed to each other, we love each other. We like each other. We trust each other and respect each other.

All the things you need in a marriage, I think that we possess. Not to say the other people wouldn't possess that. But for some reason, I think we were just meant to be together, and it happened.




Have those feelings changed?

No, no, I don't think so. I feel like we have always been made for each other. We work hard at it. Marriage is not an easy thing, you have to work at it. We have a relationship like everyone else, we have our bad days, we have our great days.

It would be nice if it was all rainbows and sunshine, but it's not all the time. Some days it's cloudy. We roll with it. We just celebrated our sixth year anniversary, so I think we are doing something right.




How did you spend your six-year anniversary?

We actually got a babysitter, which we never do: Max's teacher at school. It's just a two-day toddler program. She came over and had story time for the kids.

We went out and just went to dinner and a movie. It was fabulous.




Doing The Bachelor or The Bachelorette this year?

No, not that I know of. If they approach us, yeah. And if it fits in with our schedule, and if we want to be a part of it, then yeah.

But they haven't approached us.




TV or movies coming up?

Movies, no. I'm so not an actress. Unless I was playing myself for some reason. TV, there is potential .You never say never, but I can assure you that you won't see a 24/7 reality show about our lives.

We are actually going to be building a home soon. It's on our website, Vail Green Home. We are trying to do something with television, sort of like a documentary. Something like [Discovery] or TLC.

Who knows -- if not there, maybe AOL? Something to show people that you can actually build a great home without spending a fortune. They can see a little bit of our lives, but not a 24/7 Jon and Kate +8.

http://insidetv.aol.com/2009/12/16/t...her-with-ryan/