Amanda Abbington says she fell in love with Jonathan Goodwin after a transatlantic seven-hour phone-call with the escapologist left her acting ‘like a giddy school-girl.’
The couple confirmed their engagement in 2021 after Goodwin proposed within minutes of meeting the actress for the first time in Vienna – but their emotional bond had developed over years of online exchanges and phone-calls prior to that fateful meeting.
Speaking to The Guardian, Abbington, 48, admits she first crossed paths with 42-year old Goodwin on Twitter in 2012, while they were both married – she to actor Martin Freeman – best known for his work on sitcom The Office and Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit – and he to first wife Katy.
The one: Amanda Abbington says she fell in love with Jonathan Goodwin after a transatlantic seven-hour phone-call with the escapologist left her acting ‘like a giddy school-girl’
A mutual respect for one another’s work sparked an initial friendship, but it would be a further nine years – by which time they were both single – before they fell for one another.
She said: ‘I was on him like a rat up a drainpipe. I had fancied him for a few years.’
By then Goodwin was based in Las Vegas, but a seven-hour phone-call with the Abbington convinced him to relocate to his native Britain – despite having never met the actress face-to-face.
‘I had never considered moving back to the UK before that, and I actually changed my mind on that call,’ he explained. ‘I kind of knew that I’d found my person by the time we hung up.’
Old times: The couple originally developed a friendship in 2012, while Abbington was married to actor Martin Freeman, before becoming romantically involved following their divorce
The couple eventually met while Abbington was filming on location in Austrian capital Vienna, with the actress admitting their first meeting was preceded by her repeatedly messaging him ‘like a giddy school-girl.’
He recalled: ‘By this time, I knew that I was going to ask her to marry me. I had been planning it already, even though we’d only been talking for a month.’
She added: ‘It felt like the most amazing, natural thing in the world.’
Close: A mutual respect for one another’s work sparked an initial friendship, but it would be a further nine years – by which time they were both single – before they fell for one another
Shortly after their engagement Goodwin was left paralysed from the waist down after a stunt, which involved him attempting to escape from a straight jacket while hung between two suspended cars, went horribly wrong.
Abbington later explained that the timing was misjudged and the cars were released too early, causing him to be crushed between them as they caught on fire.
She said Goodwin, who also appeared on the 2019 season of Britain’s Got Talent, will never recover from the accident at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Georgia which saw him nearly die twice.
Nightmare: Shortly after their engagement Goodwin was left paralysed from the waist down after a stunt, which involved him attempting to escape from a straight jacket while hung between two suspended cars, went horribly wrong
Injured: Goodwin, who suffered third degree burns and spent four months in hospital after the incident, will need a wheelchair for the rest of his life after severing his spinal cord
She told the Out to Lunch podcast with Jay Rayner: ‘He fell 30 feet and lost a kidney, broke both shoulder blades, shattered both legs.
‘Third degree burns, broke his spine and severed his spinal cord and, nearly died. And then on the operating table, he nearly died again.’
The Sherlock actress confirmed it is unlikely Jonathan will walk again, saying: ‘He’s paralysed now he’s in a wheelchair.’
Unless there’s a kind of stem cell surgery or that thing that Elon Musk is designing with the little chip, he’ll be like that forever.’
Getting better: Goodwin, who has now retired from escapology, documented his four months in hospital recovering from injuries including burns and broken legs
Jonathan was released from hospital in February and Amanda – who has two children with former husband Martin Freeman – praised his bravery as he continues the long road to recovery.
She added: ‘His courage and his strength is something that I just aspire to be like. He’s just incredible, honestly, like so happy, just like a very happy, positive human being, just liquid sunshine. He’s amazing.’
The actress also revealed the stuntman had sent her a voicemail before his surgery explaining that there was a 50 per cent chance he would not make it, so he told her he loved her and thanked her for the last couple of months of his life with her.
Goodwin, who has now retired from escapology, documented his four months in hospital recovering from injuries including burns and broken legs.
He has performed other similarly death-defying stunts before; In 2013, he wore a straightjacket and dangled from a blazing rope over the River Thames in London.
