Miriam Margoyles' unconventional decision to live apart from long-term partner

Daily Mirror

27-05-2025

There's a reason Miriam Margoyles doesn't live with her partner of almost six decades—and it's not due to her busy work schedule.
Miriam Margolyes is one of the most famous actresses in the world and is renowned for her character Professor Pomona Sprout in the Harry Potter film series. However the Hollywood star has opened up about sadly not having long left on our screens after undergoing recent heart surgery.
The actress, 84, is well known for starring in dozens of other films over the years, including Mrs Mingott in The Age of Innocence, which even bagged her a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress, and also appeared in James and the Giant Peach, Mulan, Happy Feet, Flushed Away, and Early Man.
But when she isn't starring on our screens, she spends her time between Australia and the UK, and is in a long-term relationship with Australian retired professor of Indonesian studies Heather Sutherland. While Miriam tends to keep her relationship out of the public eye, she's been open about not living with Heather.
Despite the couple having been together since 1968, Miriam explained how they live their lives separately due to their high-flying careers. Appearing on podcast Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware, Miriam confessed: "I'm in love with my partner and have been for 54 years. We don't live together because we're both professional women.
"She is a historian and an academic and I'm an actress and a documentarian now. Her work is in Indonesian and Dutch and so she lives in Amsterdam, but we try to be together as much as possible."
Miriam and Australian-born Heather only live together properly when they are staying in Italy, where they own a house. And although she visits her in Holland, she revealed Heather isn't a fan of London where she resides most of the time.
The pair met when Miriam was introduced to Heather by a mutual friend in London and knew the minute she saw her that she "wanted her" but it wasn't an instant connection for the couple, as Heather didn't believe Miriam was gay at first and thought she was too noisy, which Miriam agrees with.
However, she managed to win Heather over in the 1960s, and since then, the pair has been married in a civil partnership ceremony. But unlike Miriam, Heather prefers to stay out of the spotlight, so the couple has rarely been pictured in public together.
Although they are happily married, it took Miriam a lot to come out to her parents, especially as her mother didn't take it well. Her mother later suffered a string of severe strokes and sadly passed away in 1974.
Writing in her 2021 autobiography, Miriam said: "I always believed that my coming out in some way caused it. It was a horrendous time and I was very unhappy. I knew I couldn't change what I was. I should not have told them."
Miriam and Heather have managed to keep their love alive despite being in separate countries, and Miriam previously said they speak on the phone every day but usually only see each other around eight times a year when they are on holiday together. When she was Vogue's Pride cover star back in the summer, Miriam confessed: "We were able to lead our lives without diminishing them. I didn't want her to have to give up anything and I didn't want to give up anything."
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