Fiona Shaw, 68, has shared personal insights into her marriage to wife Sonali Deraniyagala, her views on aging, and her close relationship with actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
In a recent interview with Good Housekeeping UK, Shaw described her marriage to Deraniyagala, a professor educated at Cambridge, as "really good for me." The couple married in 2018. Deraniyagala is a survivor of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in Sri Lanka, an event that claimed the lives of her husband, two sons, and parents. Shaw was reportedly deeply moved by Deraniyagala's memoir, "Wave," which chronicled her experience, leading to their meeting and subsequent relationship.
Shaw characterized her life as having surpassed her expectations, yet she still perceives herself as an "ordinary" person, albeit a "TV novice." She finds the experience of aging novel, stating, "I feel like a young old person. I'm new to old age, so I'm enjoying the novelty of the sloping hills. Those hills might get steeper as I age."
Discussing her connection with Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Shaw referred to the "Killing Eve" creator as her "spiritual daughter." Shaw first met Waller-Bridge for lunch and immediately recognized her unique talent. "If I could have a spiritual daughter in my life, she's that," Shaw said of Waller-Bridge.
Shaw previously spoke about meeting Deraniyagala for the first time in an interview with The Daily Express. After reading Deraniyagala's memoir about the tsunami, Shaw requested a meeting. "I was so surprised she was that person, not the person in the book," Shaw recalled. "We spent half an hour chatting. And when I left I thought, 'I have just met life'." Shaw noted that at the time of their meeting, she was experiencing weariness despite professional success, and meeting Deraniyagala felt like a significant life event.
Shaw described their relationship as a "beautiful thing" that brought companionship and laughter into her life. The full interview appears in the November issue of Good Housekeeping UK.