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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Entertainment
Gabriella Clare & Kate Lally

BBC Graham Norton Show: Miriam Margolyes' 54 year relationship success and coming out 'regret'

Miriam Margoyles is a British icon who has graced our screens for decades.

Best known for her roles as Mother Mildred in Call The Midwife and Professor Sprout in Harry Potter, she also won a Bafta for her role in Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence.

Her appearances on chat shows have left the country in fits of laughter with her hilarious stories including being told to be quiet by the Queen and her well-known love of radishes.

READ MORE: This Morning fans rush to support Alison Hammond as she breaks down in tears

Outside of her illustrious acting career, Miriam has enjoyed a long and happy relationship with her wife Heather Sutherland, MyLondon reports.

The actress met Heather in 1968 through a mutual friend and the pair have been together ever since.

Speaking of her marriage she previously told the Express : "Next to getting into Cambridge, that was the best moment of my entire life."

A week after the two met, she came out to her mother.

However, her parents' reaction was not as she hoped and she was asked to end the relationship.

Miriam said: "She and my father insisted I come into the drawing room and swear on the Torah never to have relations with a woman again.

"I did as they asked, but I broke my promise.

"I stayed with Heather because I loved her, because my whole soul cleaved to her, it would have been impossible to stop."

Speaking about the situation recently, she revealed that she regretted telling her parents as she believes it caused her mum to have a stroke.

She said: “Coming out is an indulgence. If you tell people who can't bear the information, you're hurting them and it's not kind.

“They brought me up to tell them everything. I was someone who was completely open with my family. It was natural that I would tell them.

“Now I wish I hadn't, I think it upset my mother terribly. I think she had a stroke, possibly, as a result.”

In her memoir, This Much is True, Miriam revealed that the reason she believes her marriage has lasted for so long is because she only sees Heather eight times a year.

She said: "We have now been together for 53 years.

"It is a big achievement.

"An academic and a scholar, Heather is my polar opposite: reticent, incredibly private and reserved. We've probably lasted this long because we have always led completely separate lives.

"Normally we see each other about eight times a year, but speak every day on the phone.

"We have never lived together for long periods, except when we had holidays."

In true Miriam style, she admitted they would consider moving in together but it would only be when they moved into a retirement home.

Miriam will be appearing on The Graham Norton Show at 10.35pm (March 4) on BBC One.

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