Alexandra Park Shares Rare Insight into Marriage with One Tree Hill's James Lafferty

Alexandra Park is royally lucky in love. 

After all, when it comes to The Royals alum's life with husband James Lafferty—whom she married in 2022 after seven years together—it's only getting better and better.

"We've been together for such a long time—we're on our ninth year of being together now—so James took his time proposing," Alexandra joked to E! News in an exclusive interview, adding of married life, "I don't know if it surprised me, but it's better. I feel like it was just the right thing for us to lock it down—because we're best friends."

That tight bond began back in 2015, when James directed several episodes of The Royals. And since then, the duo have continued to collaborate professionally, including on their TV show Everyone is Doing Great, created by James and his One Tree Hill costar Stephen Colletti.

In fact, in addition to acting opposite her husband, Alexandra is also a writer and producer for season two of the series. And when it comes to being together at home and work, the 34-year-old wouldn't have it any other way.

"We work together," she noted, "to be able to have that, to be able to—if it's our self-tapes, if it's writing Everyone is Doing Great, if it's writing a book, if it's me helping him—the fact that we get to do all of that, and spend all that time together, it just really gets better with the more we do that."

Indeed, James proved to be a valuable source of support when Alexandra began working on her memoir Sugar High, which chronicles the years immediately following her type 1 diabetes diagnosis.

"I had no experience writing but thankfully my husband does it," she explained. "And he sort of helped me put it all together and to come up with something that—I wanted it to feel like whoever was reading it had a friend in this book."

And the book, which published in 2021, is one of the actress' favorite projects to-date.  

"Obviously, it was difficult at times to share certain things, but that's all I wanted to do," Alexandra reflected. "I wanted to share all of it, leave it all there out on the table, and just be as honest as I possibly could. It brings me great joy to see reviews of people getting something out of this book. It was honestly one of the most satisfying and gratifying experiences that I've ever had."

And after struggling to manage her diabetes and navigate a budding career, today, Alexandra has multiple tools at her disposal to help manage her diabetes—including a wonderful support system in her friends and family. 

"I've got my family members, my husband, always looking out at what's out there, what technology has developed and where it's all out," she explained of how she first became aware of Medtronic's MiniMedTM 780G insulin pump she now uses. "I have great support, my husband's incredibly supportive. You do kind of need that—you need someone else looking out for you."

And just as important, he also makes their lives fun.

"I mean, every day is a surprise with James," she added with a smile. "We're just really lucky to have each other."