Hannah Waddingham Ends Nearly 10 Years Single for Surgeon Love

Hannah Waddingham is opening her heart to love again. After spending much of the past eight years focused on herself and her daughter, the Ted Lasso star felt ready to pursue a new relationship when she met spine surgeon Nick Beresford-Cleary sometime in 2025. The details of their first meeting remain private. “It’s taken me eight years,” Waddingham told Women’s Health UK in May 2026. “I didn’t really have the space mentally or emotionally for that. I’ve hunkered down and focused on my girl and me.”

Before Beresford-Cleary, Waddingham was in a relationship with Italian hotelier Gianluca Cugnetto. The couple welcomed their daughter, Kitty, in July 2014, shortly after Waddingham turned 40. The actor—also known to Game of Thrones viewers as the “Shame Nun” Unella—split from Cugnetto in 2017 and remained single until her relationship with Beresford-Cleary. “Now I’m ready to stick my head above the parapet a bit more,” she said. Although she did not identify her new partner by name, Waddingham made clear that she is happy in her personal life. “It’s really lovely too, obviously, my relationship. But the best thing about it is, firstly, being happy and strong in myself,” she added.

Waddingham had previously spoken openly about the benefits of being single, saying that no relationship is better than one that causes harm. During an appearance on “Josh Smith’s Great Chat Show” in 2023, she said, “As soon as I get a whiff of somebody bringing me down, I think, ‘Next! Goodbye. What’s your name again?’” Reaching a healthier place in her love life took time and self-reflection—but Waddingham now appears ready for a new chapter.

ALSO READ: Chronic Shoulder Pain May Stem From a Little-Known Nerve Condition

The exact timing of Waddingham’s first meeting with Nick Beresford-Cleary is unknown, though her comments about being single for eight years point to 2025. The pair were not publicly linked until March 2026, when they attended the Cheltenham Festival together. They appeared relaxed and affectionate, holding hands and showing plenty of public displays of affection. Their red-carpet debut came in June 2026, when Beresford-Cleary accompanied the Emmy-winning actor to a London event. Since then, Waddingham has frequently appeared happy by his side.

After turning 50 in July 2024, Waddingham has made it clear that she no longer intends to repeat unhealthy relationship patterns. “In my 20s and 30s and maybe the beginning of my 40s, I would allow myself to be dimmed by negative men,” she said during her interview with “Josh Smith’s Great Chat Show.” She has also alluded to a painful past relationship. “The greatest thing about this job is that it has allowed me great catharsis from a controlling, verbally abusive relationship that I’d had,” she told Entertainment Weekly in 2021, without providing further details.

The actor has also described the fear and pressure she experienced after becoming a single mother. “People go, ‘Oh yes, I’m by myself most of the time.’ But that’s not the same as being sole provider,” she told Glamour in 2023. Her comments suggested that her former partner was not heavily involved at the start. “It felt like the rug was pulled from underneath me,” Waddingham said, while noting that their co-parenting relationship has improved over time.