Actress Emilia Fox talks to Yours about therapy, vulnerability and how lucky she feels to have found happiness…
Every night before switching the lights out, Emilia Fox and her partner, Jonathan Stadlen, follow an adorable ritual. “We go to bed and tell each other how much we love each other,” she smiles. “We’ve been together nearly three years, and we still do it.”
Emilia – who stars as spy Sylvia Fox in drama Signora Volpe – met TV producer Jonathan through a mutual friend and the pair are certainly smitten. But despite reports referring to him as her husband, she says they haven’t wed… yet.
“We very much feel like we are married, but we’re not actually married,” she explains. “We choose to marry each other every day; not in an official capacity, but by choice of being with each other. So it’s a daily marriage of love.” That said, she adds that they haven’t ruled out making things official.
It sounds as if Emilia (49) has certainly found “The One” in Jonathan (45). Her previous partners include ex-husband and The Crown star Jared Harris, from whom she split in 2009, peace activist Jeremy Gilley, with whom she has daughter Rose (13), and fiery chef Marco Pierre White, who she dated on and off from 2012 to 2016.
She was also rumoured to be engaged to talent agent Luc Chaudhary in 2019, but says that finding love with Jonathan “has been the greatest gift and blessing, aside from having Rose.”
“To find someone who I’m so totally compatible with is amazing,” enthuses Emilia, who is remarkably open and friendly.
“As he would describe it, it feels like home, wherever we are. We have the great feeling of love all the time that feels like it’s the greatest romance and which also makes the everyday extraordinary.”
Of course, it isn’t all rainbows at home, but the couple talk about their differences. “We work through all the things that we bring from our history too, we really talk and communicate,” says Emilia.
“From my history of having therapy, I find it very refreshing to be with someone who wants to do that together. And he’s got children, so he understands parenting. It’s very supportive.
“He’s the most loving, the most kind, the most thoughtful, the most generous-spirited man, and I feel very together with him. And that’s a really lovely feeling. I definitely know how lucky I am.”
Although the two are happily ensconced with Rose in Emilia’s West London house, she admits there was an element of risk to giving up her independence. “You make yourself vulnerable if you fall in love,” she explains. “I’ve led quite an independent life, a very self-sufficient life looking after Rose.
“Yes, I’ve been in
