Between dealing with lockdowns, job losses, and working from home, the pandemic strained many marriages. Assuming too much togetherness would cause marital strife, experts warned there would be a flood of divorce filings when coronavirus lockdowns lifted and courts re-opened for non-emergency business. So far, just the opposite is true. Divorce filings have dropped drastically.

According to Parent Herald, relationship coach Lee Wilson said last June that couples might have had disagreements in the past, but quarantine would made it worse. Wilson said the constant tension could trigger the divorce button, but it looks like he was wrong. The number of married people looking to leave dropped dramatically according to the New York Post.

By January, a study by Bowling Green State University Center for Family and Demographic Research revealed that the U.S. divorce rate plunged as much as 36% in some states, according to USA Today.

Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue, a celebrity couple who have been wed for 41 years were just putting the finishing touches on their new book, What Makes a Marriage Last: 40 Celebrated Couples Share With Us the Secrets to a Happy Life, when COVID-19 hit the U.S.

“Suddenly, we faced a critical question: would the pandemic lockdown—and the forced 24/7 togetherness it inflicted on married couples everywhere — deal a fatal body-blow to the very institution we’d set to celebrate in our book?” the couple wrote in an opinion piece for USA Today.

They did their homework and found that although divorce rates were dropping, some experts felt that this only reflected part of the story. The sharp decline in divorce does not mean couples are necessarily happier together. The pandemic may be forcing unhappy spouses to stay together for practical reasons.

“Divorce can be expensive, and couples may be reluctant while facing economic uncertainty and/or health issues,” said Wendy D. Manning, a sociology professor and director of the Center for Family and Demographic Research at Bowling Green State University.

Thomas and Donahue looked at their own marriage and the strain the pandemic imposed.

“Even our 40 years together didn’t make us immune to the bumps of quarantine,” they wrote. “We got testy.”

And the couple said they began to apply some of the principles they learned from other celebrity couples in their book.

*There is no Plan B,” said Kyra Sedgwick who has been married to Kevin Bacon for 32 years. “No matter what, we want to work it out.”

*I’m a big believer in kicking the can down the road,” shared James Carville, the husband of Mary Matalin for 27 years. “Behind every successful marriage there’s a collection of cans.”

Thomas and Donahue said that as the veil of the pandemic lifts, they have a new understanding and appreciation for the term, “in good times and bad,” according to USA Today. “And hunkered down in our personal bunker we realized that love and friendship can keep that marital seesaw in balance.”

The couple revealed that for every argument over dirty dishes left in the sink, there was an evening on the couch together watching movies and munching popcorn. Despite the lockdown, they managed to take walks in the park with their face masks and not worry about the surging COVID-19 numbers while enjoying each other’s company.  

Divorce attorney Val Kleyman told the New York Post that when New York City announced its lockdown, colleagues warned him to expect an avalanche of cases of couples wanting to split. He said that while he realized that COVID-19 would present a challenge to many marriages, he personally felt that the strong ones would survive.

“Essentially, COVID-19 and quarantines were a test of relationships and marriages and only those who had  a solid foundation and were in good partnerships would be able to overcome the confinement, stress and pressure of the pandemics,” he said.

Thomas and Donahue agree.

“As strong as COVID-19 is, marriage is — and always will be — stronger and longer-lasting, and it’s worth fighting for,” they said, according to USA Today.