Sarah Lancashire's blended family with six sons and second husband

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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