The Love Story of Benedict Cumberbatch and Sophie Hunter, Who Prove You Don’t Need Social Media to Be Happy
After his role in Sherlock, actor Benedict Cumberbatch became one of the most desired bachelors in the blink of an eye. But right before becoming a success, he met his future wife. Even though they didn’t realize they had romantic feelings for each other at first, they eventually became a family and are now raising 3 kids. They have managed to achieve the impossible for a celebrity — they can share with their fans the most important moments of their lives, while still keeping their lives away from public attention.
They met on the movie set.
Benedict Cumberbatch and Sophie Hunter met in 2009 when they were working together on Burlesque Fairytales. By that time, Cumberbatch had already played Stephen Hawking in a BBC film but only achieved fame when he became Sherlock Holmes. For her part, Hunter had just started her career as a playwright, and in 2007, she won The Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award for the play The Terrific Electric, which she directed.
Burlesque Fairytales didn’t make a lot of money but changed the lives of Benedict and Sophie. They didn’t fall in love at first sight but rather became good friends. At the time, Cumberbatch was dating actress Olivia Poulet, and Hunter was in a relationship with sculptor Conrad Shawcross. But in 2010, Sophie and Benedict became single again.
They announced their engagement in the newspaper.
It’s not known when exactly Sophie and Benedict started dating. They kept their romance secret, even though they appeared at some events together. They were first photographed in May 2013, and in June 2014, they made an appearance at the French Open. Several months later, they were seen together again, this time in the restaurant Quaglino’s. The press started calling them a couple.
Sophie and Benedict officially announced their relationship on November 5, 2014, and they did it in a very elegant, old-fashion English way. There was an announcement in The Times, in a special column about births and deaths, which read, “The engagement is announced between Benedict, son of Wanda and Timothy Cumberbatch of London, and Sophie, daughter of Katherine Hunter of Edinburgh and Charles Hunter of London.” Later, it became known that, before asking Sophie the question, he asked for her mother’s permission.
They announced their future baby and then got married.
There was a rush of news about the newlyweds. First, 2 months after the engagement was announced, Sophie and Benedict shocked the fans when they said they were expecting their first child. And 1 month later, it became known that they had exchanged their wedding vows.
On Valentine’s Day 2015, they got married at St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church in Mottistone, located on the Isle of Wight in England. Famous faces at the ceremony included Tom Hiddleston, Andrew Scott (Cumberbatch’s nemesis in Sherlock), as well as musician Guy Garvey, actor Tobias Menzies, and pianist James Rhodes. Sophie was wearing a Valentino dress, as an homage to Valentine’s Day.
They enjoyed their honeymoon.
After the marriage, the newlyweds attended an Oscar ceremony. Benedict was nominated for Best Actor for The Imitation Game. It was Eddie Redmayne who won the award that year, but it didn’t ruin Benedict’s and Sophie’s mood, and they went on a trip around South California right after the event.
During the entire vacation, they enjoyed each other’s company. Witnesses said, “They could not keep their hands off of one another” and “kissed, hugged and held hands even when they were pumping gas.” They also added, “Benedict looked completely in love, he only had eyes for Sophie.”
They were happy about having their first child, then their second, and the third.
On June 13, 2013, Sophie and Benedict first became parents. Even though they kept the baby’s name secret at first, it later became known that they named the boy Christopher Carlton. They simply call him Kit.
They had another child on October 20, 2016. Sophie and Benedict announced the happy news during the premiere of Doctor Strange. Their second son, Hal Auden, was born on March 3, 2017, 21 months after the older brother.
In 2018, rumors about a third child appeared. Sophie and her husband attended the Showtime Emmy Eve Party in Los Angeles. She was wearing an elegant black and white dress and her tummy was showing. And in 2019, their third son, Finn, was born.
Even though Sophie and Benedict shared the news about their kids, they try to keep the public attention away from their kids’ everyday lives. They don’t show photos of them and protect their sons’ rights to private lives.
Sophie always supports her husband.
As Benedict says, Sophie is his № 1 fan. He says, “She’s proud of my work, she’s proud of me, and she loves me.” Cumberbatch values her support. So, during the 2019 BAFTA TV Awards, he kissed his wife on the red carpet, and then, when he won the award for his role in Patrick Melrose, he said, “I do have to thank one other person who is very important in my world, which is my wife, Sophie, and our family. You’re my rock.”
Sophie tries to accompany Benedict to all the big events. In 2022, she was happy for him when he got the star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, won the Cinema Vanguard award for the role of Doctor Strange, and got an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for The Power of the Dog. Sophie also accompanied him in May 2022 to the special screening of Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness in New York.
They carefully protect their relationship from outsiders.
Neither Sophie nor Benedict have social media pages. They don’t want every little detail about themselves to be online. Instead, they feel more comfortable sharing only the key events of their lives. Besides, Cumberbatch once said that he didn’t have the skills to have a social media page. He says that if he decided to do it, it would take so much time to edit a single tweet, he would end up losing his job.
They try to be a stylish couple.
Despite not having an online life, Sophie and Benedict love attracting attention to themselves when walking on the red carpet. They try to buy matching outfits for every event they attend as a couple. For example, during the 2018 Emmy Awards, Cumberbatch wore a classic 3-piece suit, and Hunter was a showstopper in a bold yellow gown.
But one of their most interesting appearances was the 2019 Met Gala. Cumberbatch wore a bamboo suit with an elegant hat and a cane, and Hunter was dressed in a lilac taffeta gown.
The couple proves that you can both enjoy public attention, while not sharing too much about your life. They show their feelings in public during official events but don’t do it every day online.
In your opinion, if a couple keeps talking about their feelings online all the time, can it affect their relationship?