Cressida: In 2016,I went to Warren’s studio to get some photos printed. We had known each other for a few years and there had always been a rapport there,but nothing romantic. He said,“If you feel like going out to a movie or having dinner one night,I got divorced two weeks ago.” I said,“You’re kidding. I thought you were a happily married man.”
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He asked me out to dinner and when he came to collect me,he gave me two giant,silk hydrangeas,which I still have in the studio. We had a fabulous night. We were not bored for a second – and we haven’t been since. When he dropped me home,he said,“We must see each other again.” I was paranoid because I thought that unless you had sex with someone immediately,they weren’t interested. I asked him over for dinner a few weeks later and we got on brilliantly. After dinner,I said,“Do you mind if I lie down on the sofa?” The rest is history.
It’s fabulous being in a relationship again[Cressida’s first husband,Peter,died in 2011 after 29 years together]. There’s the joy of talking and of having dinner with someone you love. It took me a long time,though,not to be self-conscious about how I looked. The first time Warren helped me to print an image,I was so mortified at him seeing me in my work clothes I forgot to spray the woodblock – a disaster.
In August 2020,we went away to the Blue Mountains. In the afternoon,we went for a walk. I could tell Warren was nervous. When we reached the Three Sisters lookout,he pulled a little black box out of his pocket and produced a beautiful moonstone ring. He said,“I’ve been wanting to ask you this for a long time:will you marry me?” I said yes – I was incredibly touched.
“As my mother would have said,‘If that’s all you’ve got to complain about,you’re not doing too badly.’ ”
A week later,I had a bad headache and my hands started shaking. I thought I was having a stroke. I was rushed to hospital and they eventually diagnosed a rare brain abscess. It was terrifying:my whole right side was paralysed,so I couldn’t draw or write. I nearly died. Warren visited every day and could not have been more loving. He was so reassuring and brilliant with everyone,especially my sisters,who were beside themselves. I said to him,“Darling,if I’m going to remain in a terrible state,you’re to knock me off. And you can have the house”. He hated me saying that.
We married in April this year;it was wonderful. I feel incredibly lucky to have found such a caring,clever person. He’s so affectionate and he respects what I do. That’s huge. He is also a very gentle person who gets on with everyone. The only people he doesn’t like are cruel,arrogant people.