conscious uncoupling

Amanda Abbington Discusses Playing Newlyweds on Sherlock With Her Now-Ex Martin Freeman

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Photo: WILL OLIVER/AFP/Getty Images

Martin Freeman and Amanda Abbington, known to Sherlock fans as the beloved John and Mary Watson, have separated after 16 years together. The pair tried keeping the news private, but that almost never works when you’re a celebrity, so Abbington decided to address the split directly in a new interview with the Sunday Telegraph. “Martin and I remain best friends and love each other, and it was entirely amicable,” Abbington said, adding that both parties just realized “we’d come to the end of our time together.” The extra-depressing part of all this is that Abbington and Freeman, who have two young children, had to play newlyweds onscreen for the upcoming season of Sherlock, an experience the actress described as them “effectively revisiting how it was when we first got together.”

If you’re shouting “Why God?!” right now, you can blame it on the fame (and also The Hobbit, kind of). Abbington said that the increased time apart due to Freeman’s heightened travel schedule for work created an emotional distance that became impossible to close. “You get used to being separate [from] the person you’re supposed to be with,” she said. “You lose that connection and lose sight of it, in the end.” So, blame The Hobbit for the demise of your favorite quirky, relatable British couple.

Amanda Abbington Discusses Martin Freeman Split