It’s Love, Actually, Not Marriage for ‘Yesterday’ writer Richard Curtis

If the name Richard Curtis doesn’t come quickly to you, think of some of the most enduring rom-coms — Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’ Diary — and the recently released Yesterday. Surely the writer of such films would be a total romantic and be married, right?

So it was surprising (well, for me) that the British writer and producer has been romantically involved and cohabiting with script editor and broadcaster Emma Freud, 57, for 28 years and has four children with her — but they’re not married. And, they have no desire to tie the knot. As Freud says:

“When we were working on Four Weddings And A Funeral, we added up the number of weddings we had both been to and it was over 100. Those weddings were the basis of the movie, and also the reason that neither of us could imagine going down an aisle. And I always thought that if we didn’t get married, we could never get divorced. He did present me with a ring 27 years ago and ask me if I’d spend the rest of my life not being married to him. He’s an excellent boyfriend, and is everything I admire in life.”

Meanwhile Curtis, 62, notes, part jokingly, that:

“It’s not that I don’t believe in it. I think the wedding my mum would have wanted is not the wedding I would…