Amanda Abbington and Jonathan Goodwin have quite the love story (Picture: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Amanda Abbington and her partner Jonathan Goodwin first crossed paths over a decade ago, but their romance blossomed in 2021.
The soon-to-be Strictly Come Dancing star Amanda, 49, was with ex Martin Freeman at the time, so there wasn’t anything going on initially bar a few Twitter likes.
It was only when the Britain’s Got Talent stunt man, 43, and the Mr Selfridge actress were single that they began talking in 2021.
By this time, Amanda had split from The Hobbit actor Martin Freeman, 51, after sixteen years together and two children later.
What ensued was a whirlwind romance with stuntman Jonathan after a few Twitter exchanges, and a mammoth seven-hour conversation in which she left considering a move back to the UK from LA for him.
Jonathan was a finalist on Britain’s Got Talent in 2019 for his escapology and daredevil stunts, and got to the semi-finals of America’s Got Talent in 2020.
Amanda and Martin Freeman split in 2016 after 16 years together (Picture: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)
The stars share two children – Joe and Grace (Picture: Dave J Hogan/Dave Hogan/Getty Images )
‘I was on him like a rat up a drainpipe. I had fancied him for a few years,’ said Amanda in interview with The Guardian.
Amanda – who was recently tied up in controversy surrounding her Twitter activity – described herself as a ‘giddy schoolgirl’ when they met for first time in Vienna, and within half an hour Jonathan was down on one knee.
They then went to Atlanta to meet Amanda’s family, before he flew off to Atlanta for a stunt that would change his life.
While rehearsing, Jonathan was crushed between two suspended card as he attempted to escape a straight jacket 30ft in the air.
Jonathan was left in a wheelchair for life, and while he was said to have offered her an ‘out’ on the phone, Amanda was having none of it.
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Amanda and Jonathan were engaged the first time they met in real life (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
‘I recognise what’s happened to me is traumatic and I’ve lost a lot,” said Jonathan in the same Guardian interview. ‘At the same time, I still have the thing I wanted most in my life – Amanda.’
It was last reported the couple are living together in Hertfordshire.
Amanda and her Sherlock co-star Martin share two children – Grace, 15, and Joe, 17 – and their relationship began after meeting on the set of Men Only in 2000. They never married.
Together, they have starred in films The Robinsons, The Good Night, Sherlock, and The Debt, and The All Together.
Speaking to The Times about her break up with Martin, Amanda said: ‘At the time, splitting up from him was the most painful thing I’d ever experienced.’
‘It also happened in a very public way, while we were working on Sherlock, playing a married couple!
‘When this thing with Jonathan started I was wary. I wanted to protect my heart. But even talking to him on the phone was different. I could really be myself.’
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Theirs really was a whirlwind romance.
