Joanna Page leaves no stone unturned as she lifts the lid on all aspects of her life, including sex life with her husband, iconic TV show Gavin & Stacey, and her new memoir Lush
Much loved for her role as sweet and scatty Stacey in the nation’s favourite comedy Gavin & Stacey, Joanna Page lifts the lid on her life, charting her path to the iconic TV show in her new memoir Lush . The book explores her early awkward auditions and other uncomfortable incidents, chasing her big break, finding success and falling in love – and navigating the madness of being a mum of four.
“I don’t pull any punches,” the 48-year-old actress exclusively tells OK!. “I wanted it to be honest and tell it how it is.” Joanna, who describes her life as “full on”, spoke to us from her home in Oxfordshire, exuding positive energy and talking at double speed in a still-strong Swansea accent.
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She’s clearly in her element at home with her children, Eva, 12, Kit, 10, Noah, eight, and three-year-old daughter Boe, her two spaniels, and her actor husband James Thornton, 49.
The couple met on the set of the BBC series David Copperfield in 1999 and got married in December 2003. Together for almost 25 years now, Joanna says that sparks still fly between them, and giggles when she admits that now Boe is at pre-school, they have intimate morning dates.
“We don’t do date nights as there’s too much going on and I can’t be arsed,” she says. “And while, it’s wonderful and hectic and fun, James and I can go through huge chunks of not seeing or speaking to each other. So now they are all at school, we can sit down, have a little coffee and actually talk.
“James is going, ‘Can we connect in other ways? Let’s go upstairs and have a quick shag on the bed!’ But I’m like, ‘No, let’s have a coffee first. A bit of cake and a chat and, once we’re emotionally connected, then you can have a bit of sex! Suddenly we’ve got a relationship again! It’s wonderful. That’s where we are at the moment.”
She confesses that Boe was conceived one day after school drop-off. “I drove home and James was standing in the garden, bare chested with low slung tracksuit bottoms, and looked like a rough, sexy gardener,” she swoons. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God, you’re gorgeous.’ I fancy him so much and he still fancies me, thankfully!”
Apart from sexual chemistry, what’s their secret? “He makes me laugh and I love his personality. We have the same views and ideas of how we want to live our lives. We love being together all the time. But you don’t get through 25 years without ups and downs. Of course we bicker and have arguments and go to bed not speaking, but we always wake up in the morning and never carry the argument on.”
Joanna dismisses divorce rumours that were circulating after a 2020 interview. She says, “I just said that Covid was really difficult for us as a family because me and James argued a lot, and it was like we were going to get divorced every day. I said it jokingly but this newspaper printed it as if I genuinely meant it. I didn’t. I utterly adore him. He’s wonderful.”
Brought up just outside Swansea, Joanna had a carefree childhood, spending a lot of time outdoors and at the beach. “I’m an only child and, growing up, I was happy with that. I’m quite a loner and enjoy my own company so I never, ever thought I’d have such a big family and so many children! But I absolutely love being a mum and surrounded by all this noise and busyness.”
Joanna believes fans will see a different side to her when her book is published.
“I’m pretty similar to Stacey in terms of how impulsive and also homely I am,” she says. “But I think I’m harder, too. People often think that I am just all sweetness and light, but James often says, ‘Jesus, if only people knew what you’re really like!’”
She is open about some of the more challenging episodes in her past, including her two years at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts after arriving in London from Wales.
“I was only 18 and I was told that I was rubbish at acting virtually every single day. It was abuse and it was awful, but I didn’t give up.”
After RADA, she spent a decade on the stage for the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company before she landed a part in Love Actually at the age of 23.
The 2003 film, Richard Curtis’s quintessential festive romcom, was her break-out role. Her character, Judy, is a shy body double and is required to perform sex scenes with fellow actor John (Martin Freeman).
The nudity could have been problematic, but Joanna says she never felt exploited, adding, “It was a lovely experience. There was so much preparation with Richard and Martin beforehand.”
But in her twenties, as a pretty young actress, she was the target of unwanted sexual attention and harassment from predatory directors and colleagues. “I would call them out,” she says. “Being forthright has probably got me out of some scrapes because there were no intimacy co-ordinators when I came out of drama school. You read the sex scene and just had to get on with it.”
However, there is no hint of bitterness and she is excited about her memoir. Laughing, Joanna acknowledges how crazy her life story has been, from growing up in Mumbles to working with Hollywood stars like Johnny Depp, Emma Thompson and Liam Neeson.
Clearly, though, it was playing the role of Stacey that transformed her career, and when the BBC sitcom was voted Best Comedy at the National Television Awards earlier this month for Gavin & Stacey: The Finale , Joanna was moved to tears.
“I’ve loved working with the gang; there’s been nothing better,” she says. And the cast all still keep in touch. In fact, Ruth Jones, who plays Nessa, is one of her closest friends and they speak regularly.
“She’s just so adorable and so talented! The way she transforms herself for roles. And didn’t she look gorgeous at the NTAs? Her style is incredible.”
Joanna says she is relaxed about getting older and looks years younger than her age. “I feel perfectly happy with the way I look. When you get to a certain age and you’ve lost friends and family, it just makes you realise the only thing that matters is your health and happiness. So I think I’m bloody lucky.”
In recent years Joanna has been doing more TV presenting than acting, and loves filming her new BBC show Shift The Thrift . The daytime show will celebrate Britain’s booming charity shop scene and taps into the trend of second-hand shopping and online reselling.
So how do her children feel about her fame? “They’re really cool about it. Just before Christmas last year, Eva said to me, ‘Mummy, everyone is talking about Gavin & Stacey at school. Can I see it?’ So we sat down and watched every episode. She loved it. We quote bits of the show to each other now.”
She adds, “Eva is obsessed with Michael McIntyre and his show was up against Gavin & Stacey for the NTA comedy award. When it was announced we’d won, she was over the moon, and she said, ‘I love Michael McIntyre but he’s not as good as my mummy!’ I knew then that I’d made it.”
Lush! My Story – From Swansea To Stacey and Everything In Between by Joanna Page, published by Sphere on 25 September in hardback, eBook and audio, £25
