Succession star Sarah Snook's unexpected lockdown love and 'life-changing' baby

03 November 2023 , 20:00

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Sarah and her hsuband Dave had been friends for six years before they married in 2021 (Image: Variety via Getty Images)

Australian actress Sarah Snook, who rose to international fame with her critically acclaimed role as Shiv Roy in HBO's hit show Succession, surprised everyone this year with a major announcement.

The 35-year-old actress revealed that she and her comedian husband Dave Lawson welcomed their first child after their romance blossomed during lockdown. Their happy birth announcement came at the same time as the fifth season finale of Succession.

Updating fans on Instagram, Sarah shared a photo of her television screen, showing her co-star and on-screen husband Matthew Macfayden as Tom Wambsgans, with the top of her baby's head in view. She wrote: "I just watched the final episode of the final season of something that has changed my life. And now, my life has changed again. Thank you for all the love and support."

The couple had been friends for several years before they discovered their feelings for each other during the pandemic-induced lockdown in Melbourne in 2020. In an interview with The Telegraph, Sarah spoke about how the unexpected lockdown love with her husband changed her life. She said: "We got stuck in a house together and we just sort of fell in love. Amidst all the chaos of the world outside, we realised how much fun we were having despite that."

Srah is best known for her critically acclaimed role as Shiv Roy in HBO's hit show Succession (Press Association Images)

Dave Lawson is also an actor and television personality. He got his start in the industry with roles in various television commercials before joining Nickelodeon's Australian network as host of Saturday Nick Television. With the network, he was involved in shows such as Sarvo and Camp Orange, and he also hosted the Australian Kids' Choice Awards in 2008.

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Sarah admitted that she was surprised by the turn of events and the blossoming relationship. "It was still a shock and surprise that we fell in love over the Covid lockdown," she said. Quarantining together during those difficult times had brought the couple closer, and Sarah said it gave her a glimpse of Dave's vulnerable side that she had never seen before.

Sarah and Dave had been friends for several years before they discovered their feelings for each other (Getty Images)

Sarah said she was surprised by the turn of events and the blossoming relationship. (Dave Benett/Getty Images for Har)

She said: "Because we'd just not been in those circumstances before, we'd never shared hard times, it's always been buoyant times – and we found that we actually worked well together with all those difficult conversations about what's going on in the world, how to navigate?"

Sarah has also spoken about the "taboo" of "crossing over" from friendship to a romantic relationship, especially when the pair had been friends for six long years. "A lot of my friends in high school were men, and throughout my twenties too, and I would never cross that line," she admitted. "If we're friends, we're friends."

Sarah announced the birth of their first child on Instagram in May (PA)

But it seems that love had other plans for the couple. Sarah proposed to Dave on Halloween 2020, and a few months later, they got married in a private ceremony in her Brooklyn backyard. The intimate wedding was attended by Sarah's housemates and her Succession co-star Ashley Zukerman, who plays Nate Sofrelli. The bride wore a black shirt and trousers, a vintage velvet Chloe jacket, and matching Blundstone boots known as "Blunnies" by Lawson.

Florence Freeman