Richard Curtis has finally married his partner Emma Freud after spending 33 years with the broadcaster, following two failed engagements.
The secret wedding of Love Actually, 66, and the Notting Hill creator was only revealed when Emma, 61, dropped the news at the Cheltenham Literary Festival in Gloucestershire on Saturday while interviewing actor Richard E Grant, 66.
Richard was also pictured at the event with a gold ring on his wedding finger, which he kept fiddling with the guests.
One observer said Sun: ‘Emma admitted she finally tied the knot while interviewing Richard E. Grant. She said they had been married for four weeks.’
They added that it was clear she didn’t need to say anything, as she apparently put her finger to her lips and made a “funny noise that made everyone laugh” after mentioning that she and Richard were married.
Newlyweds! Richard Curtis has reportedly married his partner of 33 years, Emma Freud, after two failed proposals (pictured together in 2022)
The couple: The screenwriter, known for his huge romantic comedies including Love Actually and Notting Hill, has been with presenter and director Emma Freud for more than three decades and shares four children together
A source said: “It’s not surprising that Emma wanted to talk about it though.
‘They have been together for over 30 years so it was time to get married.’
She is said to have tried to change the subject but it was “the story of the festival”.
Emma had proposed to Richard twice before – but neither attempt was successful as he refused the first time and slept through the second.
Richard also revealed at the festival that he would never again include “fat” jokes in his films and regretted that they were not more diverse.
He admitted as his daughter Scarlett, 28, quizzed him on stage about the criticism he’s received over the years that the cast of his rom-coms has been almost exclusively white.
Scarlett highlighted the lack of diversity in her 1999 film Notting Hill, despite being set in one of London’s most multicultural areas.
Richard said: “I wish I was in front. I think because I came from a very different school and bunch of friends from university, I kept feeling like I wouldn’t know how to write those parts.
Romance: Emma, 61, reportedly missed her big day while interviewing Richard E. Granta at the Cheltenham Literary Festival (pictured in 2018)
Lovebirds: Filmmaker Richard was also at the event and was pictured with a gold band on his wedding finger, which onlookers said he ‘kept fiddling with’ (pictured in 2019)
“I think I was just stupid and wrong about it.
‘I felt like me, my casting director, my producers were just not looking from the outside.’
Ms. Zellweger told British Vogue in 2016 that she never understood Bridget Jones’s fascination with weight.
“Bridget is a perfectly normal weight and I never understood why it was such a big deal,” she said. ‘No actor would have received such criticism if he had done the same thing for the role.’ In the film, the character is described as having a “bottom the size of Brazil”.
Curtis also spoke of his regrets about not having a black character in Notting Hill and ‘not being ahead of the curve’, but that his work was never deliberately intended to cause harm.
Ali defended himself by saying he had written a gay couple in the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral.
Curtis said he felt “stupid and wrong” because he thought he couldn’t write about those parts because of his “very diverse school” and “bunch of university friends”.
He said: ‘I felt like me, my casting director, my producers were just not looking from the outside.’
Curtis was born in Wellington, New Zealand and lived in Sweden and the Philippines before moving to Britain at the age of 11 where he attended school in Harrow. He then obtained a first-class degree in English language and literature from Oxford University.
Making a change: Richard also revealed at the festival that he will never include ‘fat’ jokes in his films again and regretted not being more varied after being quizzed on the subject by daughter Scarlett (pictured)
Times they change: Renee Zellweger’s character Bridget Jones’ weight was discussed in the 2001 hit film.
Last November, he admitted that the lack of diversity in “Love Actually” now makes him feel “uncomfortable” and “a bit stupid” as he reflected on the film’s 20th anniversary.
Speaking to host Diane Sawyer on the ABC special Laughter and Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later, he said the 2003 Christmas classic felt “dated” at times.
“There are things you would change, but thank God, society changes, you know.” So my film will feel, you know, dated at some points,” he said.
“I mean, there are things about the movie, you know, the lack of diversity that makes me feel uncomfortable and a little bit stupid.”
Scarlett previously spoke of the ‘long line of very cunning men’ in her family with cousins on her mother’s side marred by controversy and scandal.
Famous steps: Scarlett Curtis, 28, made her TV debut this year in the second series of Amazon Prime Video’s teen romance The Summer I Turned Pretty
Moving with the times: Curtis previously admitted to Love Actually that the 2003 Christmas classic now feels “awkward” and “a bit silly” due to its lack of variety
“There is a long line of very cunning men in my family,” she said in an interview with Daily Telegraph in 2019
‘That’s why I’m such a feminist, I try to correct the sins of the fathers.’
She told how the family avoided talking about her ‘sexist’ great-great-great-grandfather Sigmund growing up.
She said: “My grandfather (Clement) had a very complicated relationship and we were forbidden to mention Sigmund because he was so obsessed with making it himself. Mom wasn’t interested. I actively avoided it as a child.’