Martin Freeman's emotional true feelings for Strictly ex Amanda Abbington

23 October 2023 , 15:41

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Martin Freeman's emotional true feelings for Strictly ex Amanda Abbington

Amanda Abbington has reportedly quit Strictly Come Dancing, with The Daily Star claiming she has left the show because she's "fed up". Amanda and Giovanni did not dance last weekend due to 'medical reasons', and now she is believed to have walked away from the BBC dancing contest for good.

Amanda was one of the first names to be announced for the show. She previously starred in Sherlock and was in a relationship with her co-star, Martin Freeman, for 16 years. He has always remained fairly tight-lipped over his split with - until now that is. The 52 year old star first met the Sherlock actress, 51, in 2000 on the set of Men Only but split 16 year later.

The couple share two children together, Joe and Grace. The pair had also starred in a number of dramas together including Sherlock but it's believed that Martin's career in America contributed to the demise of their relationship. However, the couple have been keen to state that there is certainly no animosity between them.

(Getty Images)

(BBC/Ray Burmiston)

So much so, the Black Panther star, revealed in an interview last year that he will "always love Amanda." The star, who first found global fame starring in Ricky Gervais' comedy The Office, announced the news of his break-up with Amanda during an interview with the Financial Times. He said: "I'm not with Amanda anymore. It's very, very amicable — I'll always love Amanda."

And since their split seven years ago, they have both moved on. At the time of his revelation, Martin was reportedly dating French actress Rachel Mariam, who is also a scriptwriter and producer but it remains unconfirmed if the two are still together. Amanda found love with stuntman Jonathan Goodwin after first connecting on X, formerly known as Twitter, in 2012.

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Speaking about her relationship she told The Guardian: "We were both in relationships at the time, but we admired each other’s work and occasionally liked each other’s tweets." And despite the fact that they were both in relationships at the time, their close bond became apparent in August 2021 when they were both single. Amanda describes her want to be with him like being a "rat up a drainpipe. I had fancied him for a few years."

At the time their relationship consisted of online chats and hour long phonecalls as they were living in differrnt parts of the world. But when thet finally met, Jonathan said that he knew he was going to ask her to marry him. Within 30 minutes of hugging each other, Jonathan popped the question. But their fairytale romamce received a bitter blow of reality when he suffered a major fall after his stunt went wrong.

Jonathan plunged 30ft to the ground following a suspension stunt that went badly wrong at America's Got Talent. Instead of landing on an air matress, he was sandwiched between two cars that burst into flames. Weeks before the accident, Jonathan proposed to Amanda. The actress has previously revealed that life has now become normal for her as Jonathan is fiercly independent. So much so, she sometimes forgets that he's in a wheelchair.

Jonathan had tried to give Amanda a way out following his severe accident but she admitted that her love for him was strong and she still wanted to marry him, she continued to tell the publication: "I said ‘unless it’s about the wedding, then no, we don’t.’ Breaking up never flashed through my mind. I just thanked God he was alive.”

Lucretia Munro