Ian Somerhalder says “communication” is the key to a healthy marriage.

Nikki Reed and Ian Somerhalder

Nikki Reed and Ian Somerhalder

The 42-year-old actor has been married to Nikki Reed – with whom he has three-year-old daughter Bodhi – since 2015, and has said the key to keeping their six-year marriage fresh is to always make sure they speak to one another and make time for themselves as a couple.

When asked what keeps his romance good, Ian said: “Communication, taking time for yourself, for yourselves together … She’s the first one that says, ‘go, go on a bike ride, go socially distance walk with your buddies, go have a bourbon at the bar,’ you know, like just go.”

Ian also insisted he and Nikki “don’t really fight”, although they do sometimes bicker because the ‘Vampire Diaries’ star is “a tornado”.

Speaking on SiriusXM’s ‘Radio Andy’, he said: “We don’t really fight. I just basically … Well, I’m a tornado. I literally live, and I’ve learned this now as a parent. Cause I, you know, being a parent forces you to reckon with all of the things that, who you are really comes out, not just in a marriage, but when you become a parent and I am a tornado.”

Meanwhile, Ian previously hailed parents as "superheroes".

The former 'Lost' star is used to playing supernatural creatures on television, but said in his 2019 role as Luther Swan on Netflix show 'V Wars', he was playing a real "hero", because his character was a scientist and a parent.

He said: "I wanted to play a guy whose superpower was just being a good dad. He's a dad, he's a husband, he's a doctor. Literally, that's the guy's superpower.

"To me, scientists are superheroes. Great parents are superheroes. I am a parent now. I do recognise that it takes being a bit of a superhero to be a good parent, and that's all I wanted to play - just this guy. What we realised was people don't want an ordinary hero. They want an extraordinary hero. We retooled this entire trajectory of this guy."