Jessie Buckley has quietly built both a celebrated acting career and a fiercely private family life. While collecting trophies for her turn in Hamnet, the Oscar-shortlisted star has balanced red-carpet glamour with 4 a.m. nappy changes and anchovy-pasta dinners at home.
**At a Glance
- The 2025 film Hamnet earned Buckley a Critics Choice Award and a Golden Globe nomination
- She married mental-health worker Freddie in 2023 after a blind-date set-up
- The couple welcomed a daughter in 2025 and divide time between London and a 1500s countryside house
- Why it matters: Buckley’s story shows how A-list acclaim can coexist with deliberate anonymity for loved ones
From Blind Date to Backyard Wedding
Buckley first hinted at her romance in a March 2021 interview with The Guardian, calling Freddie her “fella.” She later told the Table Manners podcast that music executive Marc Robinson arranged the blind date where she met the Islington native.
By January 2024, she was praising his decision to “go back to university to work in mental health,” calling him “gorgeous.” The pair tied the knot at home in 2023, hiring Towpath café-the same spot where they had dated-to cater the celebration.
- A keg of Guinness
- Midnight cheese toasties
- strike-mandated “friend holidays” instead of a single honeymoon
Life in a 16th-Century House
When not in their London flat, the couple retreat to a crumbling 1500s manor revived by friends who “pulled the weeds out” after a bargain auction buy. Buckley calls the ochre-colored relic “a really amazing old house that’s been there forever.”
Domestic bliss revolves around cooking. Freddie’s signature dish-an anchovy-pasta loaded with capers, chillies and “about a pint of oil”-stars on weekly menus.
Announcing Pregnancy on the CinemaCon Stage
Buckley revealed her baby bump in April 2025, appearing at CinemaCon in an all-black ensemble that framed her growing belly. Five months later she confirmed on The New York Times’ Modern Love podcast that their daughter had arrived.
> “It’s intense, but I just love it,” she said, noting the infant’s emerging “life force” and determination.
To Elle she added:
> “The best thing about being a mom is just when … they give you these otherworldly little smiles and make your heart crack into a thousand pieces.”
Oscar Buzz Meets 4 A.M. Feedings
Collecting the Critics Choice Award in January 2026, Buckley told reporters:
> “I’ve got a 6-month-old at home who’s got a chesty cough and I changed her nappy at 4:00 a.m. this morning.”
She credits motherhood with making her “more honest” and “more focused about what’s important,” telling CBS News Sunday Morning:
> “My heart is like cracked open in a way that you can’t even really know until you’ve experienced what that is.”
Protecting Freddie’s Privacy
British Vogue readers learned in January 2026 that Freddie stays anonymous because of his mental-health role. Still, Buckley calls him “extraordinary” and jokes he is “having a ball eating canapés” behind the velvet rope of her Hamnet campaign.
Portraying a Mother Before Becoming One
Buckley shot Hamnet-in which she plays Agnes Shakespeare, mother of three-before her own pregnancy. At the Critics Choice Awards, she reflected:
> “I wasn’t a mother at the time that I filmed it. I deeply wanted to be a mother … we’ve got a lot inside of us.”
Key Takeaways
- Jessie Buckley weds longtime partner Freddie in a low-key backyard ceremony catered by their favorite café
- The couple’s daughter, born 2025, reshapes the actress’s worldview: “Everything’s new … it just makes me want to live”
- While awards buzz swirls around Hamnet, the star keeps family life shielded, ensuring Freddie’s mental-health career remains out of the spotlight
