It’s been four months since tabloid first reported that Broadchurch actor Andrew Buchan, 44, cheated on his wife, Emmerdale’s Amy Nuttall, 41, with his co-star Leila Farzad, 39, from BBC thriller Better. At the time, reports said Amy Nuttall had demanded a divorce from Andrew Buchan, with whom she shares two children. But now, the couple are reportedly back together, this time with new rules.
The couple had been married for 11 years prior to their separation, and tabloids claim that Buchan begged Nuttall for another chance after she found out about his affair. Nuttall had found a lingerie gift set in the wrong size, then found receipts with hotel stays during times Buchan was meant to be on set. He admitted his affair, and initially left with Leila. But both Leila and Buchan returned to their previous spouses in March with hopes of reconciliation. The price of forgiveness? According to showbiz sources, seven very specific rules.
The non-negotiable terms allegedly include Andrew not having any contact with Leila at any time for any reason, full access to each other’s phones at all times and regular FaceTime check-ins if Buchan is working away. The couple will also share working roles more equally, having previously fell into traditional roles of Buchan being the breadwinner and Nuttall focusing on motherhood. And for the final three rules, they’ll adopt the ‘777 approach’.
‘She doesn’t want to throw away over a decade together but at the same time she is far from a pushover,’ a source told The Sun. ‘They will adopt the 777 approach which means every seven days you go on a date; every seven weeks you go away for the night and every seven months you go away on holiday just the two of you.’
Now, neither Buchan nor Nuttall have commented on the reconciliation publicly – or these alleged rules for it – but the topic has got everyone wondering, can you ever control your way out of infidelity?
For Gemma*, 28 from London, it’s a recipe for disaster. ‘I took back a cheating ex once and it turned me into a jealous nightmare,’ she tells Grazia. ‘I never wanted him to go out with his friends because I knew I’d constantly be on edge the whole time. I always expected to be able to check his phone when I wanted, especially his Instagram. At first, he went along with it because he felt so guilty but eventually, he got sick of it.
‘It just took all of the joy out of our relationship, and it set such a bad precedent for being able to tell each other what to do and demand ridiculous things,’ Gemma continues. ‘In the end it made me feel even worse because I couldn’t recognise the person I’d become.’
Ultimately, Gemma says, you can never control whether or not someone’s going to cheat on you – so you just have to accept what will be and have the strength to walk away if someone’s not treating you with the respect you deserve. ‘I wish I’d walked away sooner rather than clinging on,’ she says. ‘But I was lucky I didn’t have kids to consider, I can’t imagine how much harder that would be.’