Celia Imrie was already a household name as a theatre, TV and film star long before she joined Celebrity Traitors but her appearance on the show has thrust her into the spotlight again. She's become a firm favourite with fans and her honesty makes her an ideal Faithful, though this frankness is something she's had throughout her career.
The Thursday Murder Club actor has never shied away from discussing deeply personal matters and perhaps the most intimate of all concerns her "no strings attached" proposition to the late actor Benjamin Whitrow about having a child. The former partners' son Angus Imrie was born in 1994 and Celia "laid out [her] terms" from the start.
In her autobiography The Happy Hoofer, she wrote of how she and Ben walked and talked on the beach one day in the early stages of their relationship and she made it clear she wouldn't "ask for anything" from him for their future child.
"As long as he understood I would not ask for anything, I wouldn't want to live with him, or marry him, would never ask for money for the child and I would be responsible for choosing and paying for the child's education, accommodation, clothing and everything else," she explained.
Benjamin, who passed away at the age of 80 in 2017, accepted her "terms" and forged a close relationship with Angus, whilst being incredibly open with him about everything.
She's quoted as saying in a 2018 interview, "Angus was devoted to his father and, though I've never really said it properly, Ben and I did have a romance. I wanted to have his baby before it was too late and he was very, very honest with him [Angus] and he accepted that and was a wonderful father."
When Angus was born, Celia was 42 and Benjamin was 57, and from a young age she knew that she wanted a child, but that the traditional socially-accepted "marriage-and-kids" package wasn't for her. Speaking in 2013, the Oliver Award winning actor recalled posing a startling question to her mother when she was only 7 years old.
"I have a horror of boring someone or, worse still, of someone boring me," she shared. "I said to my mother when I was seven, 'But, Mums, if it was only my husband and me in the house together, what would we talk about?' I've never wanted to answer my own question, and I doubt I'll bother now."
Whilst Celia Imrie didn't take what some might call the more "expected" route to motherhood, she and Benjamin's frankness with each other and their love for Angus speaks volumes.
Celia's unapologetic openness is refreshing and will perhaps encourage others to speak out and consider what they really want in life, even if that isn't the "norm".
Marriage isn't for everyone and why should it be? After all, it's such a personal thing, just as the wish to have or not have children is. Angus Imrie has followed in both his parents' footsteps as an actor, bagging roles as Jake in Fleabag and Prince Edward in The Crown.
"I'm glad he's not a girl, only because we would be fighting for the same roles and that causes tension if there's two female actors in the family. I'm glad Angus is a whole generation younger and is in his own lane. I'm terribly proud of him," Celia has declared.
