When he won the Outstanding Support Actor award for Succession at Sunday’s Emmys, Matthew Macfadyen was quick to praise his wife Keeley Hawes, branding her his ‘best friend’ and also paying tribute to their children.
In the HBO hit, the central storyline for his character Tom Wambsgans was the toxic relationship with wife Siobhan ‘Shiv’ Roy (Sarah Snook) against the backdrop of a show riddled with backstabbing, twists and drama.
Yet away from the screen, Matthew, 49, is happily loved-up with fellow actor Keeley, 47, with the pair sharing two children and he is stepfather to her first born.
The couple, who will celebrate 20 years of marriage this November, are lauded for having one of the strongest marriages in Hollywood, with the pair still just as smitten and committed to one another with every year that passes, despite their hectic work schedules.
Yet while their relationship may look like a fairytale, Matthew has confessed it didn’t get off to the best of starts, previously describing the moment he fell in love with Keeley as ‘awful.’
His greatest Success(ion): How Matthew Macfadyen’s marriage to Keeley Hawes went from an ‘awful’ start to a Hollywood fairytale (pictured at Monday night’s Emmy Awards)
Keeley was newly-married to cartoonist Spencer McCallum, with baby son Myles, when she first met Matthew in 2002 when they co-starred in BBC drama Spooks (pictured on the show)
Keeley was newly-married to cartoonist Spencer McCallum, with baby son Myles, when she first met Matthew in 2002.
The pair met starring in BBC spy drama Spooks (known as MI-5 in the States) and were spotted kissing in June that year.
Yet Keeley insisted that nothing happened between them until her marriage ended, saying: ‘I’m sure nobody would believe we never had an affair but we really didn’t.’
Speaking about the fairytale moment they first said the L word, Keeley recalled: ‘Matthew just came straight out with it and said “I love you” in the rain one day. I thought, “Oh dear, here we go.”’
Her divorce from Spencer was finalised in 2004 and in November of that year she wed Matthew. They welcomed their first child, daughter Maggie, the following month.
Keeley has revealed there is no bad blood with her ex, explaining: ‘Spencer and I were best friends before we married, and we’ve managed to stay that way.
‘Happily, both my husband and my ex-husband get along brilliantly. They are both generous people, to each other and to the children.’
Speaking to the Mail On Sunday in 2005, Matthew confessed he was in turmoil when he first met Keeley as he realised he had feelings for a married woman.
He explained: ‘It was awful because I realised I’d fallen for her.
‘We weren’t having an affair and it was a slow process. But I knew the effect she had on me. She’s gorgeous. Everyone who meets her will tell you the same thing.’
When Matthew picked up his second Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series Emmy on Monday he was quick to thank his wife in his acceptance speech
In Succession, the storyline for his character Tom Wambsgans was the toxic relationship with wife Siobhan ‘Shiv’ Roy (Sarah Snook) yet away from the screen, Tom, 49, is happily loved-up
Matthew, who played MI5 agent Tom Quinn in Spooks and Keeley, who shot to fame as agent Zoe Reynolds, revealed the couple’s lives ‘changed completely’ when they eloped, saying: ‘We rang a mate each to come along as witnesses and people brought little throwaway cameras to take pictures.
‘I read a poem and Keeley cried her eyes out. It was wonderful and romantic.
‘Keeley was heavily pregnant with our daughter and the whole thing seemed perfect to me… To get married, celebrate my 30th and then become a father, in quick succession, was fantastic.’
They welcomed son Ralph in 2006.
READ MORE: Why Matthew Mcfadyen is Succession’s greatest success
The following year, the couple worked together again on a new project as they appeared in 2007 comedy Death at a Funeral.
They also co-starred in Stonehouse last year, dramatising the life and times of disgraced British government minister John Stonehouse,
The series followed love cheat Labour MP John Stonehouse, who faked his own death before running off with his mistress and later being exposed as a spy.
While playing the jilted wife in the show, Keeley insisted that her union was the complete opposite to that of politician John and Barbara.
She told the Mirror: ‘We have worked together before, but not for several years. And so when this came up, it seemed like the perfect project on so many levels really, mostly because the Stonehouses are so different to Matthew and I and to our relationship.
‘So it’s nice to see us, I think, and interesting for people who may know that we are married to see us as the “other” couple.’
She told Matthew: ‘It was really wonderful. It was very jolly, wasn’t it?’
He responded: ‘Yeah, it was very difficult working with Keeley.
‘She’s… it was hard. It was hard. No, that’s a silly answer. It was joyful working with Keeley. It was nice, wasn’t it?’
He added to Town & Country: ‘We got to see each other, which is really nice. So often we’re sort of scattered in different countries. But the idea of going to work together was just great. We even took the dog.’
Yet working together is rare for the pair, who revealed how they manage to keep their marriage spark alive when torn apart on shoots.
The couple have worked together since Spooks and starred in 2007 comedy Death at a Funeral together before working on Stonehouse last year (pictured)
Yet working together is rare for the pair, who revealed how they manage to keep their marriage spark alive when torn apart on shoots (pictured in 2005)
The couple prove to be each other’s biggest champions when they’re not working together (pictured in 2022)
Matthew told The Evening Standard in 2021: ‘Keeley and I have a three-week rule — neither of us wants to be apart for any longer. So after three weeks on my own, I started to go a bit mad.
‘You start to think. “What am I doing?” I’d be walking around Brooklyn, thinking, “where do I live?” It was odd and hard.’
For the lovesick pair, they’ll do whatever it takes to go the distance, with Keeley telling The Telegraph in 2010: ‘I love being married to Matthew, and I know Matthew loves being married too.
‘It ties everything up and it’s a statement to each other and to the world. Marriage and being a mother are absolutely crucial to my happiness and my life.’
She added to The Daily Mail’s You magazine: ‘You have to work at it. We still fill up the dishwasher and put a wash on—that’s life—but you also have to make the effort to be romantic.
‘When life takes over, going out to dinner together isn’t top of your list, but before you know it, the children are older and around less and you’re sort of back together again. I couldn’t love him more. It helps that he’s the nicest man in the world….’
The couple prove to be each other’s biggest champions when they’re not working together.
When Keeley was nominated for a BAFTA in 2015 for her role in Line of Duty, Matthew told The Big Issue: ‘It is so exciting – about f***ing time!
‘Trying to keep our careers going and focus on our family is tricky, but that is part of the fun. How do we make this work? Will we traumatise the children if we are not there for a few weeks?
‘But when one of us is working away, the other is usually at home.’
When Keeley was nominated for a BAFTA in 2015 for her role in Line of Duty, Matthew told The Big Issue: ‘It is so exciting – about f***ing time!’ (pictured in 2019)
When Matthew won his first Emmy in 2022 for Succession, Keeley shouted about his achievement on Instagram
When Matthew won his first Emmy in 2022 for Succession, Keeley shouted about his achievement on Instagram, posting a picture of Matthew with his award and the caption: ‘I could not be prouder of my gorgeous, talented, kind, and brilliant husband.’
When Matthew picked up his second Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series Emmy on Monday he was quick to thank his wife in his acceptance speech.
He made a joke about his on-screen relationships as he began: ‘Our stellar cast, I must make mention to my onscreen wife Sarah Snook and my other onscreen wife, Nicholas Braun. Acting with you has been one of the most wonderful things of my career, thank you Nick, thank you Sarah.’
He went on to mention his family as he continued: ‘Thank you to my actual wife, Keeley, my love and my best friend for being here. Maggie, Miles and Ralph, I love you, I’ll see you soon.
‘Thank you so much, this is a great honour.’