Chance the Rapper Texts Wife 'I Love You' When She's Asleep: 'I Say It Eight to 10 Times a Day' (original) (raw)

Chance the Rapper knows exactly how to romance his childhood sweetheart-turned-wife Kirsten.

The Grammy-winner who turned 27 on Thursday, and Kirsten, 26, are parents to their daughters Kensli, 4, and Marli, 7 months. As they continue to self-quarantine amid the coronavirus pandemic, the star is finding creative ways to keep their romance bubbling. In this week’s issue, Chance speaks with PEOPLE for One Last Thing.

“I said ‘I love you’ this morning to my wife and last night in a text message,” says Chance, the host of Quibi’s reboot of MTV’s Punk’d. “It’s very different with this quarantine going on. Between our two kids and trying to keep our house clean, phone calls I have to get on and phone calls she has to get on, we’re trying to find time for each other.”

Because of their naturally alternating sleep schedules, the rapper found a sweet approach to express his love for Kirsten.

“We sleep at different times because I’m more of a night person and she’s more of a morning person so we miss each other sometimes,” he says. “Last night, I knew she had fallen asleep so I sent her an ‘I love you’ text. When she woke up this morning, she gave me a hug and she was like ‘I just want you to feel love.’ I was touched.”

Kirsten and Chance The Rapper. Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

“I probably say it between eight to 10 times a day on average, probably more on some days, less some days but I’ll say 10 times,” he tells PEOPLE. Since he began self-quarantining with his family, Chance has been feeling especially grateful to have Kirsten, Kensli and Marli by his side.

“My last moment of gratitude — I think I’ve been waking up daily with a newfound gratitude and being just very grateful that I’m married right now,” says the star.

“I had my fears before I got married, and I spent a long time trying to figure out the single dad life and it was very difficult and unfulfilling,” he says. “Then we made the decision to get married last year. My wife really made the decision, I made the decision a long time ago, but I feel like I had to do improving.”

“Being in the position where I have everything that I need and everyone that I need in my house, even though I have to be isolated from everyone else, not being able to see my parents and my grandparents and my friends, but the fact that me and my daughters and my wife all live in one house together is a huge, huge blessing,” Chance says. “I’ve just been taking that in with all the stuff that’s going on.”

For more on Chance the Rapper, pick up the April 27 issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.