Richard Curtis says it was 'easier' not to marry girlfriend

13 June 2019

Richard Curtis says it has just been "easier" not to marry his girlfriend of 28 years Emma Freud.

Richard Curtis and Emma Freud

The 62-year-old screenwriter - who has penned several hit romantic comedy films such as 'Four Weddings and a Funeral', 'Bridget Jones's Diary' and 'Love Actually' - admitted that although he "believes in" the concept of marriage he never tied the knot with his partner Emma - with whom he has children Jake, Spike, Scarlett and Charlie - as he feared he and his mother would disagree on plans for the big day.

Speaking on the 'Table Manners with Jessie Ware' podcast, he shared: "It's not that I don't believe in it. I think the wedding my mum would have wanted is not the wedding I would have wanted.

"Consequently it was easier to not get married because it didn't make much difference in terms of children."

Emma, 57, previously insisted that neither she nor her long-term partner could "imagine going down an aisle" and says one of the reasons she never wed Richard was as she thought if the two never married they wouldn't be able to divorce.

She said: "When we were working on 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' we added up the number of weddings we had both been to and it was over 100.

"Those weddings were the basis of the movie, and also the reason that neither of us could imagine going down an aisle. And I always thought that if we didn't get married, we could never get divorced."

However, the broadcaster added that Richard has previously "presented her with a ring".

She said: "He did present me with a ring 27 years ago and ask me if I'd spend the rest of my life not being married to him. He's an excellent boyfriend, and is everything I admire in life."