'It's hard work': Jimmy Barnes shares key to 44-years marriage

But it's the opposites - the yin and the yang - that keep Jimmy and Jane Barnes' bond strong after 44 years of marriage.

"There is no secret, it's hard work. You care, you grow, you change together," Jimmy told The Senior.

"We're so opposites, we're so different. Jane's so calm, and I'm so not. And because we're so different we sort of complete each other."

The Cold Chisel frontman expanded on his marital efforts by using the analogy of the hard work he puts into the flower garden he planted for Jane (she loves fresh-cut roses) is the same hard work that goes into their relationship.

"One day I went down and the first time I picked a bunch of roses and brought it up, and I'd seen how happy it made Jane," he said. "I thought, 'I've got to do more of this'. That's what made things good. So I planted a huge rose garden."

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"I try to help [in the kitchen but] I'm so clumsy and stuff," Jimmy said.

"I get under her feet and I chop things wrong and it's better if we do our own things and then we bring them together, and I think that's a sort of an analogy for life."

But through the highs and lows of being in one of the nation's biggest bands (including discovering surprise offspring over the years, major health scares and overcoming addiction), Jimmy has always remained a true romantic.

From picking up the cooking duties when their children were born, to admitting he'd be the guy who covers a boat in roses and champagne for Valentine's Day, he admits he's taking it for the team.

"I think he's romantic, more romantic than myself, I'm more practical," Jane said.

Jimmy adds they're both romantic in their own ways, "but I'm probably more off with the fairies".

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