Inside Happy Valley star Sarah Lancashire’s blended family life with six sons and second husband after secret depression battle – as she scoops three gongs at the NTAs
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Sarah Lancashire scored big at the National Television Awards at the O2 on Tuesday night, as she was awarded three prizes.
The actress, 58, won Best Drama Performance, while her show Happy Valley bagged Best Returning Drama and she was also given this year’s Special Recognition Award, presented by Sir Ian McKellen.
In her speech she expressed her gratitude and said she had been ‘exceptionally lucky’ to have done a job she loves.
Sarah gave thanks to her fellow actors and crew members, before crediting her success to her loved ones.
She said: ‘There are also enablers who stand very quietly in the wings without expectation or due credit, they are my family, my husband, my children, my friends, my agent Nick, thank you.’
Read on to find out about Sarah’s children, husband, first marriage and her hidden mental health struggles.
Winner! Sarah Lancashire scored big at the National Television Awards at the O2 on Tuesday night, as she was awarded two prizes
LOVING HUSBAND
Sarah has been married to television producer Peter Salmon since August 2001, after tying the knot in a low-key ceremony held in Nottinghamshire.
The couple met when he was an executive at Granada and she was starring on Coronation Street.
After Peter’s marriage to his ex-wife Penny Watt broke down, he began a romance with Sarah in the summer of 2000 and he proposed in New York at Easter 2001.
Speaking after their engagement, Sarah said: ‘Marriage is not for everyone, but spiritually it is very necessary for me because I have a desire, a need to feel owned.
Loved-up: Sarah has been married to television producer Peter Salmon since August 2001, after tying the knot in a low-key ceremony held in Nottinghamshire (pictured)
‘Not physically or mentally owned. I want to be owned spiritually. I want to belong to somebody. Marriage is a pact, a conspiracy of ownership. And I want that.’
She has kept he relationship very private despite her growing fame, hailing her marriage to Peter as ‘precious’.
She told The Telegraph: ‘We are not a public couple and we don’t make our careers out of being a public couple.
‘I know that people are interested but I don’t even like talking about my relationship with Peter.
‘And I guard it because it is very precious. It is not a piece of drama, it is real life. My normal life. And I value my normality.’
Relationship: The couple met when he was an executive at Granada and she was starring on Coronation Street and began a romance in the summer of 2000
Private: She has kept he relationship very private despite her growing fame, hailing her marriage to Peter as ‘precious’
CHILDREN
The couple went on to welcome their first child together in March 2003, a son named Joseph.
They are proud parents to six sons in total, sharing Peter’s three sons from his previous relationship and Sarah’s two boys from her first marriage.
Sarah has three brothers and insisted she didn’t mind being surrounded by boys, saying: ‘I come from a family of boys. That’s been my life anyway.’
She has been adamant about keeping her children away from the media spotlight as well, telling the Sunday Mirror: ‘You think, “Well, they are entitled to a normal life, to that anonymity, to their privacy at all times”.
‘They will come of an age where they have their own voices and they will choose whether or not they want to be photographed with me.
Mother: They are proud parents to six sons in total, sharing Peter’s three sons from his previous relationship, Sarah’s two boys from her first marriage and their son Joseph (Sarah pictured in The Cry)
‘As they get older and wiser they will make their own decisions. But until I believe they are capable of making the right judgement, I will continue to protect them.’
She added that her kids don’t see her as a celebrity, saying: ‘To my children I am a mum. I am nothing more.
‘I am a mum who happens to work on television, which they have been used to since they were born, so there’s no big deal.’
Sarah has repeatedly been offered opportunities in the US for work, but has been reluctant to leave her family.
She said: ‘The older that I get, the harder it is to be away from home. I love being at home.
‘I’m very much a mum when I go home – the mums among us know it’s a full-time job.’
FIRST MARRIAGE
Sarah was married previously to Gary Hargreaves, a music teacher and composer 11 years her senior, who she met at 18.
They married in 1987 when she was 22 and welcomed two sons, Tom that year and Matthew two years later.
However, she admitted that the marriage made her unhappy and she left in 1995 and the couple divorced in 1997.
She later revealed that she had only married Gary because she was pregnant and feared the stigma of having a child out of wedlock, saying the marriage lasted 10 years longer than it should’ve.
Sarah confessed to The Telegraph: ‘I got married only because I was pregnant. Simple as that.
‘I am a very traditional girl and was horrified at the thought of having a child out of wedlock. I didn’t want a child of mine to be different or have fingers pointed at.
‘It all seems ridiculous. Now, I just tell people to get lost, and it feels great. But my marriage lasted for 10 years, which was 10 years longer than it should have done. It was tough.’
She added: ‘But leaving my husband was really lovely, it was my renaissance. A very cleansing experience.’
DEPRESSION BATTLE
Despite Sarah now enjoying a happy home life and incredible career, she has also faced many struggles behind-the-scenes.
She was diagnosed with clinical depression at the age of 18 and said: ‘I have my good and my bad patches, my fantastic and my debilitating patches.’
She recalled: ‘In my early days, depression did inhibit me because I was too debilitated and terrified to tell anyone why I couldn’t get on a train from Manchester for auditions in London.
‘I fully believed I’d lose work if I admitted to it. Tranquillisers were the worst thing for it and I ended up in a terrible mess. My twenties were a write-off.’
Sarah confessed she had a 14-month nervous breakdown two years into her role on Coronation Street and twice considered taking her own life.
Mental health battle: Despite Sarah now enjoying a happy home life and incredible career, she has also faced many struggles behind-the-scenes
She said: ‘The breakdown was a time-bomb waiting to go off. It was absolutely debilitating.’
She revealed that she hid her depression on the soap out of fear of being ‘judged and misunderstood’ and didn’t take any time off, which she said was the ‘worst thing I could have done’.
Speaking to The Scotsman, Sarah said: ‘My family knew, but I didn’t tell anyone at Coronation Street and I didn’t take any time off.
‘I just battled along, which was the worst thing I could have done. Every day I was hysterical at the thought of getting out of bed, but I made myself do it.
‘Being in the public eye makes you frightened to talk openly about things – which is precisely why you should.
Awful time: Sarah confessed she had a 14-month nervous breakdown two years into her role on Coronation Street and twice considered taking her own life (pictured on Corrie in 1994)
‘When you pretend for a living and you have to pretend in your private life as well, it’s very sad. Because it’s intangible, depression is an issue that people don’t like to talk about. It’s like a huge, guilty secret.’
She continued: ‘Things get blown out of proportion when you’re trying to hide something you feel guilty about.
‘It’s a cruel illness, because you can’t see it and you can hide it so well. At least, I can. I’m a genius at hiding it. I think a lot of people are. Actors are bloody marvellous at hiding.’
Sarah credited her mum for helping her, saying: ‘It was my mother who said: “enough’s enough”. It must be dreadful to watch someone you love so debilitated and she literally dragged me to the doctor. It gave me my life back.’
Secret struggle: She hid her depression on the soap out of fear of being ‘judged and misunderstood’ and didn’t take any time off, which she said was the ‘worst thing I could have done’ (pictured on Corrie in 1996)
In 2000, she finally admitted to the condition, and said it was the best thing she’s ever done.
She explained: ‘When I was finally able to admit it and get it all out of the closet, I felt so liberated. I could say, “Yes, I’ve got the full works. Yes, I’ve been to that hospital”.
‘It allowed me finally to be myself. The worst thing is the shame that goes with depression, but I really don’t feel that any more.’
She also credited her sons for helping her stay positive, saying: ‘Children are buoyancy aids. When you feel like putting your head under, they pull you back again.’
National Television Awards 2023: ALL THE WINNERS
New Drama
Beyond Paradise
Blue Lights
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story
Wednesday- WINNER
Reality Competition
Love Island
Race Across the World
SAS: Who Dares Wins
The Traitors – WINNER
Authored Documentary
Deborah James: Bowelbabe in Her Own Words
Lewis Capaldi: How I’m Feeling Now – WINNER
Matt Willis: Fighting Addiction
Rob Burrow: Living with MND
Returning Drama
Call the Midwife
Happy Valley -WINNER
Stranger Things
Vera
TV Presenter
Alison Hammond
Ant & Dec – WINNER
Bradley Walsh
Claudia Winkleman
Martin Lewis
Factual
Clarkson’s Farm
Paul O’Grady: For The Love Of Dogs – WINNER
Sort Your Life Out
The Martin Lewis Money Show Live
Drama Performance
Brenda Blethyn, DCI Vera Stanhope, Vera
India Amarteifio, Young Queen Charlotte, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story
James Norton, Tommy Lee Royce, Happy Valley
Judy Parfitt, Sister Monica Joan, Call The Midwife
Sarah Lancashire, Catherine Cawood, Happy Valley – WINNER
The Bruce Forsyth Entertainment Award
Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway
Gogglebox – WINNER
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
The Masked Singer
Serial Drama
Coronation Street
EastEnders – WINNER
Emmerdale
Hollyoaks
TV Interview
Louis Theroux Interviews…
Piers Morgan Uncensored
The Chris & Rosie Ramsey Show
The Graham Norton Show – WINNER
Serial Drama Performance
Charlotte Jordan, Daisy Midgeley, Coronation Street
Danielle Harold, Lola Pearce-Brown, EastEnders – WINNER
Dominic Brunt, Paddy Kirk, Emmerdale
Maureen Lipman, Evelyn Plummer, Coronation Street
Quiz Game Show
Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel
Richard Osman’s House Of Games
The 1% Club – WINNER
The Chase Celebrity Special
Rising Star
Benjamin Chivers, Isaac, The Devil’s Hour
Bobby Brazier, Freddie Slater, EastEnders – WINNER
Channique Sterling-Brown, Dee-Dee Bailey, Coronation Street
Lewis Cope, Nicky Milligan, Emmerdale
Daytime
Loose Women
The Chase
The Repair Shop – WINNER
This Morning
Comedy
Brassic
Ghosts
Ted Lasso
Young Sheldon- WINNER
Talent Show
Britain’s Got Talent
Strictly Come Dancing – WINNER
The Great British Bake Off
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