Hannah Waddingham Found Love After Long Wait

Hannah Waddingham has spoken about her relationship with boyfriend Nicolas Beresford-Cleary, a consultant spine surgeon, describing him as "not too shabby" and noting she was "waiting and waiting and waiting for the right person."

The actress, 52, found love again for the first time since her long-term relationship with Gianluca Cugnetto ended eight years ago. She revealed in May that she and Beresford-Cleary were in a relationship.

In an interview with Heat magazine, Waddingham shared that patience was key in finding her current partner. "You don't have to rush. Eventually, they'll be along," she said.

Beresford-Cleary specializes in elective and emergency spinal surgeries and works at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and King Edward VII Hospital. He initially pursued a career in mechanical engineering at UCL before transitioning to medicine, earning a medical degree from Edinburgh University and completing his specialist training in Oxford.

Waddingham, who is a single mother to her daughter Kitty, previously stated that it took her eight years to be ready for a new relationship after her split from Cugnetto. "I didn't really have the space mentally or emotionally for that," she told Women's Health. "I've hunkered down and focused on my girl and me. [But] now I'm ready to stick my head above the parapet a bit more."

She described her current relationship as "lovely" and credited personal happiness and self-strength as paramount. Waddingham has not publicly disclosed the reasons for her breakup with Cugnetto, an Italian hotelier with whom she was reportedly engaged before their split. She described the end of that decade-long relationship as feeling like "the rug was pulled from underneath me" but added that she had to make the decision not to be weakened by it. She recalled feeling as though she and her daughter were "on an upturned dustbin lid, like a flying saucer, holding on for dear life – until the waters were calmer!" Waddingham also stated she remains on good terms with her daughter's father.