Natascha McElhone has found new love with her co-star from the Sky series "Hotel Portofino," 18 years after the sudden death of her husband. Friends have indicated that McElhone, 56, is "head over heels" for Assad Zaman, 36, who portrayed a doctor with an unrequited love for her son in the show, which aired between 2022 and 2024.
McElhone was married to plastic surgeon Martin Kelly, with whom she had three sons: Theo, Otis, and Rex. Kelly died in 2008 from an undiagnosed heart condition while McElhone was pregnant with their youngest child. Following his death, the actress raised their sons as a single parent, describing the experience as "all consuming" for many years.
"There have been long stretches where a lot of my creativity and energy have gone into my children, and joyfully so," McElhone stated in 2023. She added that as her children grew older, she felt she had become "the wallpaper, the background noise," expressing contentment with being "irrelevant."
Zaman, who hails from Newcastle upon Tyne, also stars in the television series "The Vampire Lestat" (previously "Interview With The Vampire"), playing the ancient vampire Armand. McElhone, known for her roles opposite George Clooney in "Solaris" and Robert De Niro in "Ronin," also appeared as Penny Knatchbull in the final season of Netflix's "The Crown" in 2023.
Her career began with a role opposite Sir Anthony Hopkins in "Surviving Picasso" at age 24, followed by other notable projects including "The Truman Show" and the TV series "Californication." It was during the filming of "Californication" that her husband was found deceased at their home in London.
McElhone penned an obituary for Kelly, in which she described herself as "the luckiest woman alive, even though he's not here." Two years later, she published "After You," a collection of journal entries addressed to her late husband, detailing her grief.