Anna Friel says she’s in no rush to get married to long-term partner David Thewlis.

The actress has been dating the 45-year-old actor since they met on a plane in 2001. They have a daughter Gracie, 3.

But Anna, 32, says marriage ‘is not an issue’.

‘We have been together 7½ years and we don’t really think about it. We have never talked about it – ever,’ she says.

And she reveals that their 13-year age gap is actually an advantage.

‘The upside of the age gap is that he has been my age, when it was all very hectic, and he had the freedom to go where his career took him. As a result he would never stand in my way,’ she tells You.

But when talk turns to children, Anna is quick to say she’s not planning any more: ‘I don’t need sibling rivalry on top of everything else!’

Anna Friel’s “outgoing” personality helps her Pushing Daisies co-star Lee Pace be more sociable, he says.

“I’m shy, but Anna is very gregarious and outgoing,” Lee told People magazine. “She’s good at getting me out of my house. My weekend is staying at home and going on hikes with my dog.”

In fact, Lee, who plays Ned in the hit series, prefers nights in with his friends rather than hitting the Los Angeles club scene, and even celebrated his recent Emmy nomination for Best Actor in low key fashion.

“I have friends over for games so we raised a glass,” he said. “Our favourite game is Mafia but we also play running charades. Better than going to some horrible club.”

Pushing Daisies returns to US network ABC in October after its first season was cut short by the writer’s strike.

“We’d only shot nine episodes when we ran out of scripts,” said Lee. “But oddly enough, the first day back we had the exact same crew that we had when we left - and it was kind of like we had left on a Friday night and came back on a Monday morning.”

Source: thisisscunthorpe.co.uk

…Thewlis, brought up in Blackpool which features heavily in his book, wrote The End on the final page of the first draft seven years ago, went out to celebrate with a mate and met Anna Friel. They’ve been together ever since.

‘The attraction was something simple really in that we were from the same part of the world, from Lancashire,’ he says.

‘There was something very familiar about her. She was like the girls I’d grown up with. Before Anna, I’d had a few relationships and I’m glad I’ve been around a bit. I know where it’s gone wrong or know who are the wrong people for me and who I might be wrong for.

‘I’d had a relationship with a French girl, a Japanese girl, an American girl, a Filippina and she was there all the time - a Lancashire girl. I thought: “It’s a Lancashire girl I was looking for. Why didn’t I realise it?”

‘Before that night, Anna and I had actually met on an aeroplane going to Cannes. Channel 4 was flying out what they said were 20 of the most prominent actors of the time - it was about 1995 - to promote the British film industry.

‘Everyone was there - Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Rachel Weisz. It was weird because some people you knew and some you didn’t. I sat there thinking: “We’re all very famous on this plane. If this goes down there will be an awful lot of happy equity members.”‘

Read the whole article, where David Thewlis talk much more about Anna, here

It’s Anna’s 32nd birthday today. And we would like to wish her all the best!

We hope you have a wonderful day with your family!

Anna Friel has revealed she refused to be pushed around when a Pushing Daisies producer asked her to lose weight for the television show.

She told Women’s Health magazine recently: “I told him he could have me - or a model without a brain in her head.”

“The obsession with weight today is just incredible. Curves have gone out the window, and I don’t understand it. For me, I think if you’re disciplined enough to stop eating when you’re not hungry, then you can maintain a balance.”

“Look at French women: They eat cheese, drink wine, and they have incredible bodies and skin. I can’t even do that water, water, water thing. I get so bored of it. But I do drink English tea, PG Tips, all day long. Eight cups a day!”

“I also eat three bananas a day, every day. On set, they call me Anna Banana. I’m obsessed. If I’m tired, they make me feel better.”

She added she has a similar lax attitude to exercise: “When I first moved to LA, I got a trainer, but when we started doing the show, the whole thing fell apart. But I have a row machine now. That’s how I lost all my baby weight in three months!”

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