After months of speculation, Sarah Roberts confirmed that she and her former Home and Away co-star James Stewart had divorced in an April 2024 interview with Stellar magazine.
“I just want to say that I am divorced,” she shared with the publication.
“Sometimes people grow apart and that’s okay…I got to a point where I realised I couldn’t grow in the way I wanted to within this particular relationship.”
WATCH NOW: Home & Away’s Sarah Roberts reveals moment she met James Stewart.
Speaking with our sister publication Woman’s Day shortly after Sarah made the sad admission, a close friend of the couple revealed that while James and Sarah had endeavoured to make their relationship work, they ultimately grew apart.
“James has been confronted with similar personal issues he encountered when he was with former partner Jess Marais – he tried to resolve those issues back then, but sadly, the same problems arose,” revealed the source, who added that Sarah “lost” herself in her marriage.
“The real reason they stayed together, even when the cracks were showing, was James’ 11-year-old daughter Scout- she is the apple of Sarah’s eye, and in the end, Sarah realised not even this special little girl could save their marriage.”
“If Sarah could’ve made it work for the sake of Scout, then she would’ve moved mountains but their relationship problems were just too complex, and in the end, the love died and both, bruised and wounded, decided to go their separate ways.”
After meeting on the set of Home and Away, the former couple became engaged in November 2018, before marrying in an intimate ceremony in Ireland in July 2019.
Rumours began to rapidly spread in October 2022 that their relationship had ended when James didn’t attend the premiere of Wog Boys Forever, a movie that his wife had a starring role in.
Fans also noticed that James had unfollowed Sarah on Instagram. However, Sarah’s agent denied the power couple had split, the duo going on to make a joint appearance at the 2022 AACTA awards together later that same year.
While it is currently unclear when they split for good, Sarah’s last post to social media about her husband was in February 2023 while James’ about his wife was in July 2022.
Falling in love as their characters Willow Harris and Justin Morgan did on the Channel Seven soap-drama, fans too fell for the actors’ love story.
From their first chemistry test in auditions to their few years of marriage, it was clear that James and Sarah were meant to be, at least for a short period of time.
“I did the chemistry test again with Jimmy and when I booked the role in 2017 I packed up my life and moved to Sydney,” Sarah told The Courier Mail.
“Willow and Jimmy’s character, Justin Morgan, were pretty hot together on the show — maybe I’m biased or maybe it’s because we were secretly attracted to each other.
“Willow was a firecracker, so I got to do some fun things, like straddle Jimmy when he was tied up and I slapped him in the audition.”
James similarly recounted the memorable audition.
“Sarah was waiting outside the door for the audition and she busted in, a basic “give me my money back” scene, and she slapped me and walked out,” he revealed.
“I was absolutely swept off my feet.”
The actress went on to reveal not only who made the first move, but the gut-wrenchingly cute moment she realised their chemistry was something more.
“We are very different to our characters. I remember being out one night with the crew and I asked him when he was going to kiss me in real life.”
“But it wasn’t until he took me on a date to a restaurant in Bondi called The Italian that we realised it was more than just a fling or chemistry bleeding into real life.”
Considering the divorce occurred out of the public eye, we are sure that Sarah and James will continue to remain tight-lipped about their separation and the reasons behind it.
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