The content creator dubbed “Australia’s most sexually active woman” has revealed she and her fiancé’s unusual bedroom arrangement.
Annie Knight announced her engagement to Henry Brayshaw last month after a fancy dinner in Los Angeles where Mr Brayshaw wrote the message “Will you marry me?” on a dessert dish.
But the couple, who dated over a decade ago before deciding they were better off as friends, recently stunned social media yet again by announcing they sleep in different beds on the Annie Knight Unhinged podcast.
Speaking to news.com.au, the 27-year-old said it simply made sense for them as a couple.
“We’ve spoken about the fact we hate sharing beds with people our entire friendship. When he moved in with me at the end of last year as friends we obviously had different rooms and then when we started dating it just made sense to keep things how they were,” she said.
“We have very different routines and our sleeping habits would have been affected if we decided to start sharing a bed. For example, I get up at 5am every day whereas Henry might sleep ‘til 10am when he’s home from work.”
Even though this particular aspect of their relationship is relatively fresh, she said it has been “super beneficial” for reducing any potential arguments.
“If I shared a bed with Henry and didn’t get any sleep because he was snoring all night, I would wake up and resent him and be irritated with him all day — even though it’s not necessarily his fault,” she said.
“The same way if I was wriggling heaps throughout the night and that kept him awake. He would wake up and have irritation towards me. So having separate beds just means we both wake up happy and well rested.”
But, the bedroom topic has left social media divided.
“Normalize having separate rooms! Then everyone gets good sleep,” one person commented.
“Imagine sharing a bed with someone you actually love,” another wrote.
Someone else wrote: “Hilarious. What a joke.”
“My husband and I are the same. It’s the best thing ever,” one weighed in.
Another commented: “I used to do the same with my ex, sleeping in same bed is so overrated, sleep is so important.”
Knight responded to the commentary, saying she believes people need to stop following “rules” put in place by society when it comes to bucking the social norm.
“How many relationships fall apart because one or both people feel like it’s not how it’s ‘meant to be’? Every couple should do what works best for them, not what they’re ‘supposed’ to do,” she said.
“Henry and I speak a language with each other that no one else can speak because we know each other so well and we have so much respect for each other. That being said, things that work for us might not work for other people and that’s totally fine.
“We don’t judge other people for doing things that we don’t. I think tailoring your relationship to who you are as individuals and as a couple is the key to having a long-lasting relationship and I think people need to look into this a little bit more before judging.”
Sunrise presenter Edwina Bartholomew, who revealed she had chronic myeloid leukaemia in September 2024, told Stellar in March last year that she and her other half, journalist Neil Varcoe, sleep in separate beds.
At the time, she said the couple lived in separate homes throughout the week before reuniting over the weekend due to their conflicting schedules. The confession, much like Knight’s, sparked a vigorous debate.
However the popular news reporter defended their living arrangements after being “shamed”, stating that while “people don’t talk” about sleeping in different rooms, many couples do it.
“Well, today [April 21] is actually my [sixth] wedding anniversary, and I can confirm we are still married,” she told the magazine’s editor-in-chief Sarrah Le Marquand on the Stellar Podcast.
“It was an amazing response. It’s just something people don’t talk about, but so many couples do.
“It absolutely went bananas, because I think it’s not ‘the done thing’. So when you talk about what you’re doing in your relationship that just works for you – and that’s it for us, for many reasons and on many levels – I think that resonates.”
Bartholomew, who started sleeping separately from Varcoe about seven years ago, says this set-up could help other relationships too, as it certainly makes her value the time they do spend together with their two young children.
Last year, Chloe Szepanowski announced she and her fiancé Mitch Orval sleep in separate rooms, while an American couple who have been together for four years went viral after sharing their very different bedrooms.
Many defended the move, telling the young couple to “do what feels right for you”.
Sleep divorce is a rising trend. The main reason for it is sleep loss. Tamara Green, a New York couples therapist, told TODAY.com the move has improved many people’s love lives.
“They get enough rest and they feel like they are able to hear each other out and get their needs met,” she said.
However it’s important to schedule time together before you go to sleep, she said.
Not everyone agreed. Dr. Carol Ash, a sleep expert, said it’s “healthier” for couples to sleep together, adding it improves sleep quality.
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