Debra Lawrance, 66, and Dennis Coard, 72, of Home and Away, have made it through 31 years of marriage, despite the fact that many celebrity romances begin at work.
Debra, who portrayed Pippa Fletcher in the Australian serial opera Home and Away, first dated Dennis when he was chosen to portray her second husband, Michael Ross.
2011: “Home and Away gave me my life,” Debra told Woman’s Day. “I don’t think I would have had kids if I didn’t have a reliable career. Dennis and I have two wonderful kids together, and he’s an amazing parent.
“I met Dennis at exactly the time my ovaries were yelling, ‘Hello!'” she stated.
I had to have detected his testosterone odour. I made small talk with him and felt a connection, so I treated him badly for the next six weeks. I suppose I put him to the test. Our ideas collide in many ways, particularly when it comes to theatre. We have perfect synchronisation.”
The couple wed at Avalon, close to where they film Home and Away in Sydney’s Northern Beaches, two years after they first met on set.
Last year, as the couple commemorated their 30th wedding anniversary, Debra posted her sentiments on social media.
“My appreciation is limitless. We’ve made it through the previous three decades together because Dennis is the nicest, most giving person I know and a truly amazing father. Add to that his hard work, support, sense of humour, and extreme beauty, and you can see why,” the woman added.
“Happy Anniversary, Dennis, my love.” We are so grateful that you agreed to be the father of our two lovely children. Much love.”
Even though Grace Coard, 30, and William Coard, 23, were born, it hasn’t been easy sailing for the couple.
Earlier this year, Debra confided in her fellow cast members of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here about her experience with several miscarriages.
Following Liz Ellis’s account of her two miscarriages while undergoing IVF, Debra revealed that she had experienced a like circumstance.
“I experienced that. Before I had Will, my youngest son, I had lost four kids,” she remarked.
Ellis answered, “Oh, I’m so sorry,” with tears in her eyes.
“They just weren’t meant to be,” Debra said. “I had identical twin girls after losing two single kids. They had a condition, were further along in the pregnancy, and had little chance of survival. And in my opinion, Liz, Will was the child we had been waiting for at the time of his birth. It therefore makes him extremely valuable.”
Since their time on Home And Away, Debra and Dennis have constantly worked in theatre and on television. A few years ago, they co-starred in the TV series Five Bedrooms. But what mattered most was that they raise their kids together.
As children, we didn’t want to be apart from them,” Debra said to Woman’s Day.
“We’re just a family, and we communicate that relationship as parents to our children—not in a negative way.
Dennis has two films in post-production: Strange Creatures and Love, Tea & Epiphany, while Debra’s next project is the upcoming TV miniseries Human Error.
