Maureen Lipman and her new husband David Turner have opened up on finding love together in their late seventies, six months after the couple tied the knot.
Street star, 79, exchanged vows with her businessman partner, 80, in an intimate ceremony at his son's London home in September.
The couple first met in 2023 and the actress spontaneously asked him to marry her a year later, 20 years after the death of her first husband, and three after his wife passed away.
Opening up on the joyful surprise of their union in their twilight years to The Sunday Times, Maureen said that despite only being together for just over a year when they got engaged, it 'somehow felt like we’d known each other for the whole of our lives'.
The gushed that she soon learned she 'wanted to be with him 24/7' and recalled that when she moved into David's London home, 'my heart kept telling me I was coming home'.
And despite both being nearing 80 years old when they tied the knot, she declared: 'Sorry if this sounds smug, but I wish any person who’s on their own at my age could find this level of happiness.'
Maureen Lipman and her new husband David Turner have opened up on finding love together in their late seventies, six months after the couple tied the knot (seen at wedding)
Opening up on the joyful surprise of their union in their twilight years, Maureen, 79, said that despite only being together for just over a year when they got engaged, it 'somehow felt like we’d known each other for the whole of our lives' (seen together in July)
David explained that when he first met Maureen he'd not been in a place to find love again, as he only recently lost his beloved wife of 50 years, Frances, to Alzheimer’s.
Having been her primary carer for her final five years, he described how he'd 'hard to hold her hand and watch her disappear' as her dementia progressed and admitting: 'The feeling of helplessness broke my heart.'
However, he said that after spending more time with Maureen, what convinced him to tie the knot again was 'knowing that if anything happened to Maureen, I would want to take care of her.'
David added that he also became aware of the passage of time and how fleeting joy could be, saying: 'When you’re young time stretches on for ever, but when you get to your seventies the second hand begins to pick up speed.
'We might have one year together, five years or 20 years, so let’s make them the happiest they can be.'
However, Maureen revealed her worries ahead of her going on the UK tour of her new show, Allegra, from May to July, which will be the first length of the time the pair are going to be apart from each other.
Admitting it will be 'difficult', she said her new marriage had changed her perspective on the importance of work over all else, as she was reluctant to 'f*** it up'.
'Let’s just say I don’t want to rock the boat too much,' she said. 'I’ve found someone to look after and someone who wants to look after me. What we have is rare and precious, and I hope I don’t f*** it up.'
Maureen, who plays Evelyn Plummer in Corrie, shared the news of her engagement in the Spectator revealing that she had been the one that popped the question while on a train in August 2024.
She was previously married to TV scriptwriter Jack Rosenthal for 30 years until his death in 2004, with whom she shares daughter Amy, 50, and Adam, 48 (pictured in 2002)
After the death of her husband, she dated Italian businessman Guido Castro for 13 years before his death in 2021 after being 'weakened terribly' by Covid (pictured in 2014)
