TV star Anne-Marie Duff has broken her silence on a secret romance with a "very famous" actor, revealing she was "devastated" when their relationship ended.
The 55-year-old actress, known for her roles in Bad Sisters and Shameless, opened up for the first time about her "perfect first love" in a candid new interview. She described how she struck up a passionate relationship with a younger drama school student while studying at Drama Centre London in the 1990s.
Anne-Marie attended the prestigious school alongside future stars like Paul Bettany, now 54, and John Simm, 55. "I fell madly in love. It was fabulous," Anne-Marie said. "It was an actor who is now very successful, actually."
While she is keeping her famous lover's identity secret, she described their relationship as "the most perfect first love in as much as it was kind, uncomplicated, fun, a bit messy, a bit sexy-sexy-sexy."
"It was a bit like in the opera La Bohème - there were all these young students, all these young artists, and it was all about the craft. It was bliss," she recalled.
The relationship lasted four years, she revealed, and when it ended, she was heartbroken. "It was really very difficult," she admitted. "We were drifting apart, but I finished it, which was just awful. I was devastated."
She added that she ended the relationship "because I knew that I loved him more as a friend. And that was devastating, that realisation."
The actress said she threw herself into work and travel to get over it. "I was in my mid-20s, and life went on, and I was doing lots of theatre. I was in my happy place, work-wise, and off travelling the world … India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh," she said.
Anne-Marie dated David Tennant, 55, in the early 2000s after they met while co-starring in a production of Maxim Gorky's Vassa at London's Albery Theatre in 1999. She went on to marry James McAvoy, 47, in 2006 after meeting on the set of Shameless. The couple had a son, Brendan, now 16, and split in 2016.
Speaking about the end of her marriage, she reflected: "I think that love comes in many guises. I think we put an awful pressure on love to be one thing. And it isn't."
"Some people just win the lottery. Some people just do meet somebody, like my mum and dad. And then other people don't. They have a different love story, or love stories. And neither one is superior to the other," she said.
The actress, who won a BAFTA for her role in Apple TV's Bad Sisters, confirmed she is currently single. "I would love to be in love. I'd love to meet somebody. I work better in a team. And I'm fun to be with. I'm a good laugh," she said.
