‘Silicon Valley’ Actor Thomas Middleditch Credits Swinging With Saving His Marriage

Silicon Valley actor Thomas Middleditch revealed that he’s in an open marriage in an interview with Playboy, crediting a polyamorous lifestyle for saving his relationship with Mollie Gates.

Middleditch told the pub that he broached the subject of seeing other people when he felt like he was going to either have to try it out or end their marriage.

“I don’t know how much I can say, because I don’t want my wife to be mad at me,” he said. “Only after I got married was I like, ‘Mollie, I’m sorry, but we have to get nontraditional here.’ To her credit, instead of saying ‘F–k you, I’m out,’ she was like, ‘Let’s figure this out.’”

He said that sex is still somewhat of a point of contention in their marriage, but that the decision to open it up salvaged their relationship.

“To be honest, swinging has saved our marriage,” he said. “We have different speeds, and we argue over it constantly, but it’s better than feeling unheard and alone and that you have to scurry in the shadows. By the way, it’s now called being ‘part of the lifestyle.’ The term swinging is old.”

Middleditch said that the key to their arrangement is constantly communicating.

“It’s a perpetual state of management and communication, to the point where it’s like, ‘All right, we’ve got to stop. Chill.’ I’m gas, and she’s brakes.”

He also encouraged other people who feel like they need more than a monogamous relationship can give them to speak out.

“If that’s part of your being and it feels important to you, find a way to explore it, because repression sucks.”