Miriam Margolyes has revealed her plans to quit the UK for Italy to live with her long-term partner Heather Sutherland for the very first time – after her serious health woes.
The Harry Potter actress, 84, has been in a relationship with Heather, 82, for 57 years and the pair wish to move to Tuscany together.
They currently live separately. Miriam is based in London whilst historian Heather lives in Amsterdam.
Miriam bought a home near Siena in Italy back in 1973 and they will both soon reside there permanently.
It comes after the star had a transcatheter aortic valve replacement operation last year in to avoid a more invasive open-heart surgery.
Miriam told The Observer of the move this week: ‘The world around us has lost its charm. And we just want each other in a beautiful place which we know.
‘We can toddle along and laugh and just quietly subside into old age. But together. We’re here for such a short time. It’s gone so fast. Mentally, I’m still fairly crisp.’
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Miriam Margolyes has revealed her plans to quit the UK for Italy to live with her long-term partner Heather Sutherland for the very first time – after her serious health woes
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The Harry Potter actress, 84, has been in a relationship with Heather, 82, (seen) for nearly sixty years and the pair wish to move to Tuscany together
She added of making the most of her time left: ‘We’re here for such a short time. It’s gone so fast.’
Miriam met Heather through a mutual friend while working on a BBC radio drama after Miriam had graduated from studying at the University of Cambridge.
Heather is an Australian historian and former professor at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
Heather first met Miriam in 1967 and the pair have been together ever since.
In Miriam’s 2021 autobiography, This Much Is True, she says of her partnership: ‘We have 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.’
Miriam previously shared the secrets to her decades long romance with Heather.
‘I just think you must tell the truth, never let the sun set on a quarrel, listen to the other person, and don’t look for – don’t gamble with your happiness,’ the star said.
‘Don’t look for another genital. Be happy with what you’ve got’.
‘I think adultery is nonsense. I think it wastes time. Cherish what you have.’
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The star had a transcatheter aortic valve replacement operation last year in to avoid a more invasive open-heart surgery
Last year Miriam also revealed that she is now registered disabled and could be confined to a wheelchair because of a back condition.
Miriam explained that spinal stenosis, which occurs when space around the spinal cord becomes too narrow compressing the nerves, could make it difficult for her to walk, restricting her to a wheelchair.
In an interview with Closer, the star said: ‘I can’t walk very well, and I’m registered disabled, so I use all kinds of assistance. I’ve got two sticks and a walker and they’re such a bore, but I’ve just got a mobility scooter, which is a lot of fun.’
But Miriam also revealed that she regrets not making major lifestyle changes to improve her health.
She said she wished she had been able to conquer her weight and described not doing so as a defeat.
During an appearance on the How To Fail podcast in September, the actress and presenter confessed she had not conquered her weight.
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Last year Miriam also revealed that she is now registered disabled and could be confined to a wheelchair because of a back condition
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Miriam met Heather through a mutual friend while working on a BBC radio drama after Miriam had graduated from studying at the University of Cambridge
She said: ‘I am a blubber mass. I am fat. And to be fat and 82 is truly pathetic.’.
She has since also revealed her fears as she gets older and worries that she won’t be able to afford carers to look after her as her health worsens.
She told Radio Times: ‘I’m worried that I won’t have enough money for carers when I finally get paralysed, or whatever it is that’s going to happen to me.’.
Miriam, who has been with her partner Heather since 1968, currently lives in Clapham, south west London.
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