Marriages are tough and EVERY marriage has rough patches — VERY rough patches sometimes. But Heidi and Seal — you have THE BIGGEST incentive of all to work through your problems: your four kids. Here’s why you should try to stick it out!

Heidi Klum and Seal, you are both thoughtful and lovely people and you’ve been deeply in love for at least seven years, six of them married. Now, you are clearly facing serious issues — they have to be serious because there’s no way that Heidi, 38, would ever consider divorce unless they weren’t serious. But that doesn’t mean that you two should throw in the towel on your marriage.

When you said your wedding vows, you were committed until death do you part and to stick together through trials and adversities. That’s why you need to seek marriage counseling now and commit to counseling for as long as it takes to talk through the problems and disagreements you are facing. A source close to you explained to Hollywoodlife.com EXCLUSIVELY that issues have arisen in the past year because Seal has been traveling the globe on a concert tour and that the two of you “have grown apart.” Distance has taken its toll on your marriage.

That’s completely understandable. Distance is the enemy of communication, and communication is the key to resolving fights that can start off small and grow to epic proportions when you aren’t there to see each other, talk things through and hug and kiss and make up. Hanging up on each other on the phone, silently obsessing over the disagreements, refusing to talk to each other — all these things are so easy to do when you are separated by thousands of miles and enormous work commitments. It’s easy to start feeling that you’d be better off without your partner and you’d each be better off just concentrating on your own careers.

Hey, I get that. I’ve been there. I’ve been married for 28 years — we got married young. And my husband and I have had our fair share of blow-ups and standoffs where we didn’t see eye to eye. Some of these even went on for a couple of months at a time and I wondered when he’d ever start to see things MY way.

But the bottom line (and I always had to consider this seriously, just as you are doing now) is: do you still love each other, would you REALLY  be better off alone and would your children REALLY be better off if you tore your family apart?

I’m sure that Heidi and Seal are asking themselves these questions right now and I’m sure they are in a highly-emotional state. But I know that Heidi is a deep and caring person. I’ve met you several times and I’ve always been impressed by how smart, lovely and kind you are. Success has not spoiled you in any way. Seal certainly adored you for many years — otherwise you wouldn’t have married him and had three children together and he has raised your daughter Leni as his own. You will not make a decision without deep consideration.

If Seal, 48, has lost his way over the past year and behaved at all out of character, there must be some hope that with counseling he can find his way back to his true nature and that with counseling together that you can recommit to your relationship even if he has to complete his tour dates in Australia in February. Marriage is meant to be for forever, so another month on the road shouldn’t be the final straw.

Many studies over the years have shown that people who stick together through difficult times in their marriage are happy that they did so. Also, most marriages can survive even an episode of cheating — not that I’m saying that this at all happened here. My point is that marriages can survive through even the most inexcusable situations and can go on to be stronger.

Seal — if you really don’t value your family and would rather be selfishly single, then everyone would understand it if Heidi felt she had to get a divorce in order to move on with her life. But Seal, if you are ready to put your marriage first and to do whatever it takes to save your family, then Heidi — you’ve got every reason to shelve the divorce papers for now.

You both know that four little people who you both love dearly – Leni, 7, Henry, 6, Johan, 5 and baby Lou, 2 — will thank you forever if you can work at your marriage and stay together. Children like nothing better than the security of having the parents they love together.

In any case, we all wish you the very best in doing what’s right for your beautiful family.

– Bonnie Fuller

More Heidi & Seal:

1. Heidi Klum & Seal: The Real Reason They’re On The Rocks
2. ‘Real Housewives’, ‘Mob Wives’ & More Celebs Discuss Heidi Klum-Seal Split
3. Heidi Klum Divorce: Seal Speaks Out About Split On Twitter