Joanna Lumley, 78, fell head over heels for her husband of nearly 40 years – and she’s obsessed with her grandchildren too. We take a look at the star’s quiet life offscreen

The actress says when she first saw conductor Stephen Barlow, she experienced an “electric shock” moment(Image: FilmMagic)

She’s known for playing a crazy ex-model and an alcoholic mother from hell, but in real life, Joanna Lumley is a devoted wife, mum and grandma.

The national treasure is currently stealing the show on our screens in BBC’s Amandaland, the Motherland spin-off focussing on social climbing school mum Amanda, played by Lucy Punch. Joanna, 78, takes on the role of cruel Felicity, who treats her daughter with the utmost contempt.

The Avengers star is of course also known for the iconic character Patsy Stone in Absolutely Fabulous, where her character is frequently in a drugged-up haze and bumbles her way through life with best pal Edina Monsoon, played by Jennifer Saunders. Her life off-camera is thankfully very different…

Joanna plays an ice cold critical mother in Amandaland (Image: BBC/Merman/Natalie Seery)

The actress lives with her husband of 39 years Stephen Barlow, a well-known conductor, in South London. They met at a mutual friend’s wedding, with then 31-year-old Joanna romantically describing the moment to the Independent as an “electric shock”.

“It wasn’t a matter of falling instantly in love, it was the impact of a colossal shock, completely memorable,” she said. “Jo looked amazing in a turquoise coat,” Stephen added. “I’d never seen anything so glamorous and statuesque.”

The accomplished opera supremo was Joanna’s second husband – she was briefly married to Jeremy Lloyd, the creator of sitcom ‘Allo ‘Allo, in the 1970s. They divorced after just a few months and she later joked: “He was witty, tall and charming – we should have just had a raging affair”.

The actress is mum to a son, Jamie. She had him at 21 and raised him as a single mother following her split from photographer Michael Claydon and describes him as her “miracle”.

The star says her first marriage should have been just a “raging affair” (Getty Images)

The star describes her son Jamie as a “miracle” because she thought she couldn’t get pregnant(Mirrorpix)

“Doctors had told me I could never have children, so I went on working until I was six months pregnant because they kept saying I wasn’t pregnant,” she once told The Guardian. “Jamie was born at seven-and-a-half months. It was a miracle for me.”

Joanna has two granddaughters in their early 20s, Alice and Emily and describes spending time with her family as “absolute heaven”. “My advice to new parents would be to give your children unconditional love, it’s the greatest gift we have as a parent,” she told Hello Magazine in 2023. “I also remember my parents giving me advice when I was young – it didn’t seem to make much sense at the time, but it has always stayed with me and now makes complete sense!”

As for the key to a happy marriage, the star sagely told the Radio Times last year to “respect your partner and always treat them as the most important person in the world”. Her career has taken her all over the world and it suits the couple perfectly – she once told chat show host Jonathan Ross: “We are both independent. I love being on my own. When I’m away, I don’t even phone home.”