Natalie Bassingthwaighte knew she wanted to propose to her partner Pip Loth “for months” before she finally did, and in that time she “didn’t tell anyone”.
“I had to keep it to myself to know that it was coming from my heart space,” the multi-hyphenate artist, who is set to return to her one-woman show Shirley Valentine this week, tells nine.com.au.
“Normally, with these things, you want to tell everyone and ask anyone’s opinion or whatever but it felt like it was really important for me to just sit in it and know that it was something that meant a lot to me.”
The actor and musician says she had no doubt popping the question was the right decision, but it didn’t stop her from becoming overwhelmed with nerves.
“Pip has changed my life in so many beautiful ways,” Bassingthwaighte says of her partner, who uses they/them pronouns.
“The way they handle me and my life and what comes along with that. They’re so grounded and sweet and loving in the way that they support and nurture my kids and animals.
“It felt like a no-brainer, but leading up to it I was absolutely so nervous.”
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Those nerves reached fever pitch just before she got down on her knees in Niagara Falls, Canada.
“I’ve never felt that feeling before,” Bassingthwaighte says.
“I was shaking and sweating and all the things you can imagine. I was so nervous but it went so beautifully.”
To propose to Loth, Bassingthwaighte enlisted the help of a poet. As they stood in front of the famous falls, the poet handed the couple a poem about their love story.
Moments later, Bassingthwaighte pulled out a ring box and presented it to Loth, before getting on her knees.
The couple recently shared the exciting news with the world, posting a video of the proposal to Instagram but beforehand they took some time to bask in the excitement with those closest to them.
“We’re just so happy … I feel so comfortable in my own skin and my life is brilliant”
“We kept it to ourselves for a month because we just wanted to be in that glow and stay in the bubble,” Bassingthwaighte says.
“That was really special.”
When they did decide to make the news public, they had some measures in place to protect themselves after experiencing some “nastiness” in the past.
When they first confirmed their relationship publicly in 2023, the couple received some “nasty” homophobic comments that affected Bassingthwaighte.
“I was quite fragile at the time,” she says, explaining she decided to remove comments from her Instagram post as they were “too overwhelming” for her.
When she posted about their engagement, Bassingthwaighte decided again to limit comments to protect her and her partner from any similar commentary, which she says is “a shame” but also a necessary step.
“I’m not up for grabs for people to be saying anything negative about my life,” Bassingthwaighte says.
“They can think it if they want, but they don’t have the right to post anything on my page.”
Bassingthwaighte has admitted in the past that she had some internalised homophobia to navigate, which she says partly stemmed from worrying about what others would think about her.
Now, after doing “a lot of work over the last few years on healing and discovering more about [herself]”, she feels “really comfortable in [her] own skin”.
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“I don’t have fear around it anymore at all, which is beautiful,” she says.
“At the end of the day, people are going to feel how they feel, you just have to be honest with yourself.”
The self-discovery journey Bassingthwaighte has navigated is not unlike the one her character Shirley Valentine embarks on.
Bassingthwaighte is returning to the role with the opening night of her one-woman show coming to Sydney this Wednesday.
“I tend to get drawn to things that mean something to me or that I do relate to and this was a no-brainer,” she says of the role, which follows the story of a housewife taking on a new adventure and rediscovering her passion for life and her sense of self.
“It’s almost like it was handed to me on a silver platter at the time that I needed it.
“[The show is] really uplifting. It’s life-affirming and heartwarming … and I think we all need a bit of that.”
It seems Bassingthwaighte is embracing this energy, not just in her role but also in her personal life.
“I’m sitting in the bubble and I’m loving it. My kids are great and my family is great and my fiance is great,” she beams, putting emphasis on the word fiance.
“Life’s so good. We’re just so happy … I feel so comfortable in my own skin and my life is brilliant.”
Shirley Valentine is showing in Sydney from Wednesday 22 October until Sunday 26 October before heading to Brisbane for a two week run between Wednesday 29 October and Sunday 9 November.
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