Jason Sudeikis may have charmed audiences with his folksy optimism as Ted Lasso in the hit Apple TV series of the same name, but fans also fell in love with Rebecca Welton, the poised owner of AFC Richmond football club, portrayed by Hannah Waddingham.
First introduced as a bitter divorcee seeking revenge on her former husband – the club’s previous owner – Rebecca evolved into a leader capable of showing warmth while making peace with her single status. Ever since the show’s debut in 2020, some viewers have longed for Ted and Rebecca to get together. The writers may have different plans for season four, which began earlier this month, but off-screen, Hannah, 52, and Jason, 50, are already best friends.
“When I came over here [to Los Angeles] for the chemistry read in 2019, it was effortless straight away,” Hannah says. “It’s something we’ve never had to think about. We meet mentally and emotionally on being single parents.”
Hannah is a mother to Kitty, born in 2014, whose father is the actress and singer’s former partner, the Italian hotelier Gianluca Cugnetto. Jason, meanwhile, has a son, Otis, 12, and a daughter, Daisy, nine, from his previous relationship with the actress and director Olivia Wilde. “He and I always take his two and my one to the theatre. He loves doing that in the West End,” Hannah says. “I definitely wouldn't be here without him.”
Having made her name on stage in productions such as Spamalot, Into the Woods and Kiss Me, Kate, followed by roles in TV shows including Game of Thrones and Sex Education, Hannah has hit her peak in midlife. In addition to the latest season of Ted Lasso, she recently starred in the action-comedy series Ride or Die alongside Octavia Spencer.
“I’m an assassin and a football club manager,” she says.
© AFF-USA/ShutterstockNow, she has a new reason to smile, having found love with the spinal surgeon Nick Beresford-Cleary. The couple made their red-carpet debut in London in June, when Hannah was honoured at a media event celebrating powerful women. Having first appeared in public together at the Cheltenham Festival in March, they were also seen at the All England Lawn Tennis Club’s annual championships at Wimbledon and at the Ted Lasso premiere in Los Angeles in July.
Hannah is admired for her remarkable singing voice and commanding screen presence, but it’s also her warmth, humour and refreshing honesty about balancing fame with family life that make her so relatable.
© Instagram"My sole focus is my daughter, making sure she’s provided for. I don't come from money, so yes, it's necessary, but it's not the be-all and end-all to me,” she says.
Just like Rebecca, she is a woman who knows her worth, having negotiated a pay rise for the third season of Ted Lasso alongside co-stars Brett Goldstein, Juno Temple and Brendan Hunt.
© Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images“I make sure that my team is there for the right reasons, that they are tenacious and that we're moving forward and showing other women that you can be front-footed and get what you deserve,” says Hannah, who is delighted that the latest season focuses on a women’s football team.
“I've put things in place for my daughter that she cannot touch until she's 21, not 18. My team would tell you that whenever I'm offered anything, my brain says: ‘Where are those funds going first?’ At the moment, I’m concentrating on giving her the best education that I can possibly give her. I agreed to do something recently that will see her through the best school I could find for her, and that's the greatest achievement of my career.”
Season four of Ted Lasso is available on Apple TV now
