Hannah Waddingham has revealed she is in her first relationship in eight years, telling Women’s Health UK that her new man is “very good looking” and “really lovely” — ending a period in which the Ted Lasso actress dedicated herself entirely to life as a single mother.
The 51-year-old, who plays Rebecca in the award-winning Apple TV+ series, became a single mother after her decade-long relationship with Gianluca Cugnetto broke down when their daughter Kitty was two years old. Since then she has raised Kitty, now 11, alone — and has spoken candidly about the demands of being a sole provider rather than simply a parent who occasionally flies solo.
“It’s taken me eight years,” she told Women’s Health UK. “I didn’t really have the space mentally or emotionally for that. 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.” When the interviewer suggested it sounded like “a very good-looking parapet,” Waddingham laughed and confirmed: “It is! And it’s really lovely too, obviously, my relationship. But the best thing about it is, firstly, being happy and strong in myself.”
She has not named her new partner, though romance rumours surfaced in March when she was photographed with spine surgeon Nick Beresford-Cleary at the Cheltenham Festival. Beresford-Cleary is a Consultant Spine Surgeon at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and King Edward VII Hospital, specialising in both elective and emergency spinal procedures. He began his career in mechanical engineering before completing a medical degree at Edinburgh University.
The eight years of focused single parenthood were not without their trials. When Kitty was three, she was suddenly hospitalised and diagnosed with the auto-immune disorder Henoch-Schönlein purpura — a frightening period that led Waddingham to step back from roles that would take her far from home. It was at this point, she has said, that she manifested the Ted Lasso role, asking the universe for work that would challenge her professionally but keep her close to their London home. Two months later she had her first meeting for the part of Rebecca, which was ultimately filmed just half an hour away.
“In that moment, your career could falter because you’re left holding the baby,” she said of single parenthood. “But I found in myself a strength. I thought, ‘No, I’m not going to sit in the corner with a duvet over my head and think, oh, poor me.’ I’m going to come out fighting because I know that I have so much to give in my career. She is undoubtedly my greatest achievement because of that.”
Waddingham had previously told Michelle Visage on the Rule Breakers podcast that she was “pretty picky” about potential partners, declaring that positivity and charisma were non-negotiable. “If you are not going to step up, step off and be gone,” she said. “Sod off until someone fabulous comes along.” She also listed bad kissers and a lack of eye contact among her deal breakers — criteria that, by the sound of her Women’s Health interview, her new man has comfortably met.
