Stephanie Beacham didn't meet 'The One' until she was 60.
Stephanie Beacham and Bernie Greenwood
The 75-year-old actress was initially married to John McEnery from 1973 until 1979 and has daughters Phoebe, 47, and Chloe, 45, with him but met doctor-and-musician Bernie Greenwood almost 15 years ago and fell in love with "no compromise" after exchanging emails.
She said: "I've met many women in their forties who are successful but alone I didn't meet Bernie until I was 60. Let that be an inspiration! Let's be honest, that's post-menopause, post-children. That's post a lot of things - but not all things! We fell in love, no compromise. We were given, through rose-coloured spectacles, the vision of each other as if we were 35. God allowed us magic! Before we met, we'd been emailing but by the time we'd written enough emails, I knew I loved this man. But I didn't know I fancied him."
The 'Dynasty' star went on to reveal that the meeting came about after a friend suggested that she meet Bernie - who at that point had just come out of a near 40-year relationship - and had to learn how to use her computer for the first time when they started messaging.
In an interview with OK! magazine, she said: "I had said to my friend who's married to a music producer, 'Has your husband got any musicians that are worth going out with on a Saturday evening?' I just wanted to go and hear some music with some new company. She said, 'You've got to meet Bernie!' Bernie had recently finished a 39-year relationship and she knew what a wonderful person he was. My friend had asked me to email him and I said, 'Certainly not! But if you want to get him to email me, that'll be fine.' We both admitted afterwards we'd spent our days looking forward to the next email. I'd never touched my computer [before], it was just a white lump on my table! He couldn't believe how slow my typing was."
Some years ago, Bernie asked Stephanie to marry him and although she accepted, the couple have decided against tying the knot because they already feel married but could just decide to get hitched on a whim.
She said: "Bernie says, 'Why did you say yes then?' to the proposal. And I say, 'Because it was one of the most
romantic things that's ever happened to me. I could never have said no.' But we've never been able to agree or decide what sort of [wedding we want] because we're married, for heaven's sake, we're just not [actually] married. It's just that it would make no difference. And the idea of a fussed-up wedding is just not what I could be bothered with.
"But we may just do it. We may suddenly say, 'Oh, for heaven's sake, shall we have a party this afternoon and just get married?' We just haven't and it's for no other reason than we can't quite come to understand what sort of a wedding we would have."