After being in an onscreen relationship across the Creed franchise for eight years, Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson revealed in an interview with Refinery29 that they went to couples therapy as their characters Adonis “Donnie” Creed and Bianca Taylor in preparation for the new movie.

Creed 3 sees Adonis and Bianca married, and Thompson revealed that going to couples therapy as their characters not only helped them develop their fictional relationship but their real-life relationships as well. Thompson explained that since she and Jordan have worked on these movies together for a decade, they came to the sessions having “seen each other through various stages in our own romantic things.”

“I think the moral of Creed 3 is that all people should go to therapy,” Thompson said, explaining how therapy can be helpful even in a seemingly healthy relationship, helping to improve partners’ communication and understanding of each other. Thompson joked that Creed 3 is “a full PSA for therapy,” as her character Bianca works to lower her defenses around Adonis.

“The line sometimes between character and us get blurred because we bring so much of what we’re exploring personally to the characters in general,” Thompson said. “I’ll say it was an early experience in couples therapy for us both, but it was as these characters, which is very weird.”