Sally Phillips Reflects on Divorce Fears Nine Years Later

has reflected on her life nine years after her divorce and how she overcame her fear of 'being on my own with three children.'

The Bridget Jones star, 56, split from her husband of 14 years Andrew Bermejo in 2017 and the exes now co-parent their three sons, Luke, 17, Tom, 14, and Olly, who is in his early 20s and has Down's syndrome.

She admitted that she refused to accept the breakdown of her marriage toward the end of the relationship because she was scared.   

'My marriage failed. There were many reasons it failed. But one of the reasons, I think, was that I was absolutely not prepared,' she explained.  

'I wouldn't talk about the possibility of it ending, so we could never actually talk about what was wrong. I would just shut down the conversation. I'd only talk about positive things we could do, like courses we could go on.'

She added that she knew the marriage was over when she realised that 'I made him feel awful just by being me, and he made me feel awful just by being him. To continue in that was not successful.'

The main reason Sally was scared to end her marriage was because of the impact on her then young children. 

'I was so frightened of the marriage ending and me being on my own with one, two, three children,' she told The Mirror.

'And I was so sure that I couldn't manage that. Turns out I can. So, I think I would say that divorce isn't always failure. And I suppose I've come to see life force as really precious.'

Sally has since found love with former Army Captain Ian Pilcher, who served with the King's Regiment for nine years. 

They were set up on a blind date by a friend in 2019 and now live together in West London, and co-own a catering business. 

In an interview at the Edinburgh Festival in 2023, she said that her beau was 'to die for'. 

She added 'actually, to be honest, when he kissed me, this is true. I'm going to overshare because comedians do that.'

'But when he kissed me, I did think of that line, you need to be kissed a lot by someone who knows how. So I've met someone who knows how to kiss.'

Sally, who starred in all three Bridget Jones films, found fame in the Channel 4 sketch show Smack the Pony. She is also known for the six years she spent as Miranda Hart's irritating upper-class friend Tilly.

Her latest project is BBC One crime drama The Hairdresser Mysteries, in which she plays Lily Petal, who has left a London salon for a new shop in a picturesque Northern town. 

When murders start happening on her doorstep she turns amateur sleuth. The Hairdresser Mysteries airs Fridays at 2pm on BBC One.