Idris And Sabrina Elba, Who Both Have COVID-19, Explain Why They Didn’t Stay Apart

Idris Elba and his wife, model Sabrina Dhowre Elba, defended themselves Sunday for not keeping apart from each other after the actor tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Dhowre Elba revealed Sunday that she now has COVID-19 as well, but said she has no regrets about staying by her husband’s side.

“We didn’t change the way we interacted,” she told Oprah Winfrey via FaceTime on Apple TV+’s “Oprah Talks COVID-19,” per People. “I could have made a decision to put myself maybe in a separate room or stay away, and I’m sure that people are making those decisions that are tough decisions to make. But I made the decision to be with him and still touch him.”

The couple took some flak last week after Elba disclosed his positive test result in a video with his wife in close proximity.

Elba said the couple had been together on the day of his probable exposure and remained so until he left for a movie shoot.

“If I had caught it, she had certainly caught it in that time period, as well,” the “Molly’s Game” star told Winfrey, per NBC News. “People were right to have highlighted that spatial distancing is important. I think given the context of the video, which was telling the world what has happened to us, we weren’t thinking about that specifically.”

The “Thor” and “The Wire” actor had previously defended his original video before his wife tested positive as well. “Just for clarification, Sabrina wanted to be by my side, you know,” he explained last Tuesday in a video. “As much as we talked about her not coming to where I am, she did and wanted to, and I love her even more for it and I would do the same for her.”

Both told Winfrey they feel well overall so far. The actor had previously expressed concern that his asthma might make the illness worse.

Dhowre Elba also shared an Instagram story Sunday of the two baking together.