When we meet Emilia Fox on a spring morning in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, south-west London, the Silent Witness actress is in her element.

“Nature always helps me enormously to process and feel present,” the star tells HELLO! as she walks among the diverse flora – 10,000 individual plants and 1,500 species, no less – inside the gardens’ Temperate House. 

Emilia, 51, split from her partner of four years, the TV producer Jonathan Stadlen, last year, and the actress, who is an ambassador for the Royal Botanic Gardens, reveals that spending time in nature has helped her to heal.

“I’m a great believer that changes come in life for a reason, even if it’s hard to see why at the time,” she says. “Inevitably, there is great sadness when a relationship finishes, but a year on from separating, I’m feeling positive about where I am in life and what’s to come.

“Time is a great healer, and because I was working away from home, I had lots of time on my own to process it, feel it and privately work through it.”

Emilia spent three months in Italy last autumn, filming the mystery crime series Signora Volpe, which she describes as “the greatest tonic”. 

“I’m single and I love the feeling of looking forward to new beginnings from the starting point of having learnt a few things from experience,” she says. “We had some immensely happy times together, so I will always have good things to say about Jonathan.”

Mental wellbeing

“I’m a keen advocate for mental wellbeing and for looking after that as much as we look after our physical wellbeing. I’ve done therapy for years, but the place where I’m happiest and calmest is in nature, for sure.”

Emilia is on the same wavelength as the Princess of Wales, who is also an advocate for the restorative power of nature. “I think she says the same thing about it being [healing], the physical side of it and the mental wellbeing side as well.”

The actress, who lives in west London, describes her home as her happy place. “It wasn’t until I got my first house, which had a garden, that I developed my own love of gardening,” she says.

“Here, I’ve got the most beautiful roses, which come back year after year. My wisteria is so extraordinary that people stop in the street and take pictures. It was the reason I bought the house in the first place. 

“I once heard a little boy walking past going: ‘That’s the magic house.’ It was so sweet.”

Famous family

Emilia hails from an acting dynasty: her parents are Edward Fox, who starred in the 1973 film The Day of the Jackal, and Joanna David, known for her role in the 1971 TV adaptation of Sense and Sensibility.

Her brother is the Slow Horses star Freddie Fox, and she’s also a cousin of the Riviera actor Jack Fox and the niece of James Fox, who appeared in the 1993 film The Remains of the Day.

Alongside nature, it’s family and friends who have helped the London-born actress through the end of her relationship. “I have wonderful friends, I go to therapy, I’ve spent lots of time with family in Dorset walking and being by the sea.

“My daughter, Rose, and I make each other laugh a lot and always look for things that make us feel joyful and positive,” she says.

“Work has been hugely helpful, too. We don’t really talk about relationships there, so it’s been a good way to have purpose and not overthink things.”

 Emilia’s daughter Rose

Emilia shares her love of the great outdoors with her 15-year-old daughter, whose father is the star’s former partner, the actor Jeremy Gilley. 

Whether the Fox acting gene will manifest in Rose is yet to be seen. Although she takes part in school productions, Emilia says that she hasn’t shown interest in being an actress – yet. “She wants to be a therapist at the moment, which I’m thrilled about,” she says.

Emilia is also passionate about keeping her daughter away from social media. “She has access in other areas of her life, but when she’s with me, she doesn’t have any social media,” the actress says.

“I wanted to show her that you can have a space without it and you don’t have to have it with you all the time.”

Is Rose grateful for her mother’s decision? “She is now, but the campaign was hard, full of very convincing arguments: ‘I need it for friendships, that’s the way we communicate; you don’t understand.’

“I have to say, all credit to her, she has co-operated and I’m super-proud of her for doing it.

“I think there are very good sides to social media. I wanted to talk about the positives and negatives with her, and to give her some protection [until] she was at an age where I felt she could choose how to use it responsibly and maturely.”

Career highlights

Emilia is primarily known for having played the forensic pathologist Dr Nikki Alexander in the BBC crime drama Silent Witness since 2004. The 29th series aired earlier this year and she’s filming the 30th season later in 2026.

“It’s an exceptionally lucky position to be in, having played a character that I really love and respect for so long,” she says. “I always describe it as having had a best friend alongside me in life. Nearly half my life has been spent playing her.

“It gives me work for seven months of the year, then for the other five months, I’m doing other things.”

Emilia also filmed the third series of Signora Volpe last year, playing the detective Sylvia Fox. Why is she so drawn to crime? “I grew up loving the genre, whether it was Miss Marple, Poirot, Sherlock Holmes or Inspector Morse,” she says.

“I love mystery-solving, but I also like the idea that there are good people who try to do good things when bad things have happened. I like the hope in that.”

This worldview matches Emilia’s own character. “I’m a great believer in finding the positives,” she adds.

One project at Kew that’s close to Emilia’s heart is the renovation of the Palm House and the adjacent Waterlily House, areas where our shoot is taking place. Without urgent work and donations, Emilia says, the listed buildings and tropical plants could be lost for ever. “It’s an irreplaceable piece of our heritage, and caring for it really matters,” she says.

Embracing midlife

Now in her fifties, the actress has an inspiring outlook on life. “I remember this moment when people asked: ‘How do you feel about turning 50?’

“I didn’t think about it, then on the actual day, I thought: ‘This is the moment to think of everything that’s happened in life. For better, for worse, all of the things I’ve learnt… now is an opportunity to shape the second half of life.’

“I didn’t think I had choices in the first half of my life. I went along with it, and I think that’s part of being an actor and being brought up around a family who were like: ‘Make sure you think about other people first.’”

With Rose now in her mid-teens, Emilia has more time on her hands. “I didn’t travel for a long time because when she was little, I wanted to be here, and Silent Witness was in London – the studio was ten minutes from my house and I was able to be home by 5.30pm.

“Now there’s more time in life to choose… to travel more, to learn more; that’s what I’d like to do. Time becomes very precious.”

She’s learning to direct, and would love the chance to work on a comedy. “I think laughing and humour are one of the best tonics in life, so to be a part of creating that would be lovely.

“As I get older, there are some really interesting parts being written for women, and for men, too. I think there’s more interest in all of the different ages, which is great, and an understanding that people’s experiences are interesting to portray in all the different stages of life.”

She adds: “I’ve seen it with my mum’s generation, where the parts stop [when] you get to a certain age. It was much harder, I think, to be an actress as you got older, and now I think that’s changed and hopefully will continue to do so.”

Emilia also reveals that she’s “constantly trying to learn Italian” and that she loves cooking. Is she looking for someone to share these interests with? 

“I don’t know that you have to share the same passions in a relationship,” she says. “I think it’s important to love someone for who they are and respect them for what they love, not to want them to be the same as you.”

Emilia Fox is an ambassador for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, a conservation charity working to create a thriving planet. Visit kew.org

Henry Moore: Monumental Nature opens at Kew Gardens on 9 May

CREDITS:

Photographer: @joshshinner

Styling: @rosie.arkellpalmer

Stylist Assistant: @jesss_milller

Hair & Make-up: @jpmakeup using Lisa Eldridge Make-up and Sam McKnight Hair products

Editor: @hello_mag_ed_jessica

Creative Director: @amygalvin

Shoot Producer: @beckypix1

Interview: @sophjhamilton