Strictly's Amanda Abbington's haunting confession about Martin Freeman split

14 October 2023 , 17:15

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Martin Freeman and Amanda Abbington split up after 16 years together (Image: Getty Images)

Amanda Abbington and her Strictly professional partner Giovanni Pernice once again wowed fans and judges with their stunning performance on the dance floor.

This week saw them tackle a slow number, the Rumba, to the emotive Out Of Reach by Gabrielle. While three of the judges love their routine, Craig Revel Horwood gave the fan favourite couple a six - and viewers rushed to their defence. On It Takes Two, Fleur East asked the pair: "Do you think you were under marked?" Gio said: "Every week we try to to our best and hope the judges liked it. Three of them did, one of them didn't like it that much, but what are we gonna do?" Amanda replied: "Yeah it doesn't matter. You can't please all the people all the time." She added: "To be honest we worked really hard. It didn't feel like a 6. It could have been a 7."

Amanda has been a staple on our screens for many years, starring in hit shows like Mr Selfridge and Cuffs. And fans of the hit BBC show Sherlock were devastated to see the on-screen relationship between Amanda and Martin Freeman's characters end in tragedy. But what many may not know is that the off-screen relationship between the two also came to a heartbreaking end.

The pair continued to work together on Sherlock depsite being broken up (Getty Images Europe)

Amanda and Giovanni on Strictly (BBC/Guy Levy)

The couple first met in 2000 while working on the film Men Only and went on to star in several other projects together including The Debt, The Good Night, and The Robinsons. They even had two children together and lived together in Hertfordshire, but their partnership ultimately came to an end in 2016.

Amanda, 51, recently opened up about the split, revealing that they kept it a secret for six months while continuing to work together on Sherlock. Despite the heartbreak, the two remained professional and civil towards each other on set. She said to The Sunday Times Magazine: "When we broke up nobody knew, we didn't tell anybody except for a few key people because they had to know, because of the logistics of hotels and stuff. It took six months for it to get out and a lot of that was while we were working on Sherlock... We were professional and we were going to get on and make a show and be civil to each other."

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She added: "We still get on really well, we still really both admire each other as actors... he's a great guy, but we just couldn't live with each other anymore." The mum-of-two has since spoken about the toll the break-up took on her mental health, telling the Full Disclosure podcast that she was a 'mess' and was left 'hating herself'. Things got so dark for the star that she even contemplated suicide.

"It was breaking up with Martin and then realising I needed to sort myself out because I was a bit of a mess. I hated myself," she explained. Amanda went on to recall how after the split she was left feeling like she'd let people down and her mantra soon became "You could always kill yourself". She continued: "That was a genuine option for me, quite a few times in my life. Then I don't have to be this bad person because I don't have to be here anymore."

After the breakup, Amanda began therapy and was able to overcome her past emotional struggles (Dave Benett/Getty Images)

Amanda has won a new army of fans (PA)

Amanda's life has been nothing short of a rollercoaster ride. Thankfully, she started therapy and was able to overcome her past emotional struggles. She's now happily engaged to former daredevil Jonathan Goodwin, whom she met on Twitter back in 2012. After talking online and over the phone for years, the pair finally met in person in Vienna and Jonathan proposed within minutes of meeting her.

However, their love story was dealt a brutal blow when Jonathan was left paralyzed after a stunt went terribly wrong on America's Got Talent: Extreme. But Amanda stood by his side through thick and thin. Recently, the couple appeared on Loose Women where Jonathan opened up about his accident and how he would have understood if Amanda had walked away from their relationship. But she never even considered it. Amanda recalled that when Jonathan said they had "a lot to talk about", her response was simply: "Unless it's about the wedding, then no, we don't." She added: "Breaking up never flashed through my mind. I just thanked God he was alive."

She is currently competing in this year's Strictly Come Dancing with dance partner Giovanni Pernice. But as for Amanda's ex Martin, he has also moved on with his life and is currently dating actor Rachel Mariam. Fans may recognize her from her role in BBC's Normal People, alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal.

Florence Freeman