She has made a name for herself as the terminally single, middle-aged woman who is constantly on guard but never manages to find a husband.
But it looks like Miranda Hart has found love at the age of 51.
In publicity for her new book, I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest With You, the comic actor teases in her inimitable style that she “couldn’t possibly tell if there’s a love story in there… (There is – shut up) Exciting .’
Ms. Hart also appears to be wearing a wedding ring in recent videos and photos posted to Instagram, where she has a million followers.
There is a lot of talk about whether or not she is married, and locals near her West London home have spotted her with a mystery man. But there was no sign of the couple at her £2million home in Hammersmith yesterday.
The much-loved Mrs Hart rose to fame with her self-titled BBC sitcom in 2009, in which her fictional mother Penny exclaims: ‘So much fun!’ when she thinks her daughter is about to get a boyfriend. It follows her search for ‘the perfect man’ and her flirtation with chef Gary.
Miranda Hart is wearing what appears to be a wedding ring on her right hand… but is she trying to fool us by not wearing it on her left hand?
Miranda Hart as Miranda and Tom Ellis as Gary in series three of the show
Miranda depicted in a wedding dress in one of the episodes of her popular comedy
Mrs Hart, who played Nurse Chummy in Call The Midwife and Miss Bates in Emma, revealed this summer that she has been battling a chronic illness for three years.
She wrote online last week: ‘Big news – book sold out in a week. I share a lot of stories from the past decade – mostly what I’ve learned living with a chronic illness – but there’s also a lot of fun and some of my own big news.”
And in a publicity blurb for the book on Amazon, out Thursday, Ms. Hart writes that she has had an “unexpectedly difficult decade – there have been surprising joys, but also deep revelations and challenging lows. I’ll be honest about that, because what I discovered in the hard times were my, what I call, treasures.’
‘Treasures – practical tools, values, ways, answers explored by some of the great scientists, neuroscientists, therapists, sociologists (all ‘ists’) that have really led to a sense of freedom, joy, peace and physical recovery. I never thought possible.
‘Life now, amazingly, with what I will share, is so much fun (always important to quote your own slogan)! If you feel like reading it, I hope my story can help yours. After all, we are in this beautiful, mysterious, challenging life together.’
The comedian, whose father was commander of HMS Coventry, which was sunk by Argentina in 1982, has previously joked about her love life, saying: ‘I was very naive sexually. My first boyfriend asked me to do missionary work and I went to Africa for six months.”
Miranda Hart at the ‘Spy’ film premiere in London in 2015
The cover of Miranda’s new book ‘I Haven’t Been Completely Honest With You’
Miranda Hart at the ‘Annie’ press evening in London in June 2015
In a video promoting the book in August, she revealed she was battling a secret illness that had caused her to “gain weight” in recent years.
The comedian said she feels “ashamed” by her weight gain, not because she’s pursuing an “aesthetic ideal,” but because she doesn’t feel like herself.
Miranda told her fans that she had been diagnosed with a “disease” but did not reveal what she was suffering from.
In the video, Miranda said she has worked hard to eliminate negative feelings about her body.
The clip’s caption read: ‘I’ve found it incredibly difficult not to feel ashamed about gaining weight over the past three years.
‘Not because I strive for an aesthetic ideal, but because it does not represent who I am by nature. But life happens. Disease happens.
“And it’s a great way to stay focused on the greatest healer: self-compassion. Whether I lose it or not, I know I am loved. Rest.’
The TV star, wearing a T-shirt with the word Proud on it, held up her book and joked that she had lost “all the midlife weight that was on it.”
She whispered, “I didn’t do that,” before pointing to the title of her new memoir.
Miranda and Gary in episode three of season three of the hit comedy show
The comedian said she feels ‘ashamed’ by her weight gain, not because she’s pursuing an ‘aesthetic ideal’, but because she doesn’t feel like herself
Miranda Hart pictured during the filming of The Graham Norton Show
Miranda told her fans that she had been diagnosed with a “disease” but did not reveal what she was suffering from
Miranda continued: “But can I say that I am actually quite proud of the fact that I have taken away a lot of shame about my weight gain, not because I don’t like bigger, but because it is.” “I’m not quite myself and I feel really uncomfortable and it’s one of the things I talk about there.”
She explained more in the caption of the post, writing: ‘I’ve found it incredibly difficult not to feel ashamed about gaining weight over the past three years.
‘Not because I strive for an aesthetic ideal, but because it does not represent who I am by nature.
‘But life happens. Disease happens. And it’s a great way to stay focused on the greatest healer: self-compassion. Whether I lose it or not, I know I am loved. Rest.’
Miranda’s fans flooded her comments section with messages of support after she spoke candidly about both her illness and her weight gain.
They said: ‘Weight gain is terribly misunderstood and people can be terribly judgmental. Learning to accept yourself is a very good start. I’m looking forward to reading the book!’; ‘I’m in my 40s and the last three years have been a nightmare in terms of weight gain no matter what I do. THANK YOU for really being here.”
“You have achieved all these great things in life because of who you are, not because of your dress size. You have a lot of love around you.’