Fiona Shaw’s wife is an "unusual" person.
The ‘Killing Eve’ star has been married to her spouse Dr. Sonali Deraniyagala since 2018 and after suffering a devastating tragedy, when Sonali lost all of her family in the terrible 2004 tsunami, Fiona admits her new relationship has helped her "understand the value of things".
She said: "I’m married to a very unusual person, but maybe it took a very unusual person to be willing to marry me. Sonali’s children, parents and husband were all killed in the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, and I’m very cognisant of that. Its sorrow doesn’t dominate our life, but it definitely defines it. I understand the value of things by being with Sonali. She lives knowing that at any moment the world could end because she lost her world. It has brought me into land, I suppose, about lots of things; a lack of arbitrariness about life."
Fiona is currently starring as Carolyn Martens, a lead MI6 agent, in ‘Killing Eve’ and she thinks the show has completely "changed the landscape and the game" for women in television as it has two strong female leads.
She added: "Why weren’t they making series about this sort of stuff 20 years ago when I was in my late 30s? I would have enjoyed them. They weren’t because there was a feeling that you had to have the male storyteller and that the woman was always an addendum or, going right back to Shakespeare, always resolving her story in a domestic happiness. Women are often portrayed as virtuous, so it’s wonderful to not always be good. I think ‘Killing Eve’ has changed the landscape and the game."
Fiona also heaped praise on the show’s creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge, praising her "energy and focus".
She told the June issue of Good Housekeeping magazine: "Her energy is high and her focus is sharp, so you would just do anything for her."
Fiona Shaw: My wife is an unusual person
