Former Home And Away star Sarah Roberts reveals new relationship after divorce from ex, James Stewart

After her very public divorce from ex-husband James Stewart, Sarah Roberts has spoken for the first time about finding love again.

Early in her acting career, Sarah Roberts noticed she was always the one instigating a conversation about how to portray intimacy on screen.

“At that stage there weren’t any crazy sex scenes; they were more kissing scenes with an actor that I hadn’t worked with before,” she explains to Stellar.

“It was about, ‘How are we going to film this kiss? Do you want to use tongue? Do you not want to use tongue? Where are you going to put your hands? Where should I put my hands?’

“It was always really uncomfortable because I felt that should potentially be the director’s job. “I’ve worked with many directors who are really comfortable doing that, but others weren’t. “Most of my scenes have been with men. Some of them would be like, ‘Let’s just go for it’ or ‘Do whatever you want’. Then you’re nervous …. wondering, ‘Am I doing too much? Too little? Where are his hands gonna go?’”

‘I have found this love for myself, and also fallen in love.’ Sarah Roberts has opened up to Stellar about her new relationship. Picture: Steven Chee for Stellar

Listen to Sarah Roberts on the Stellar podcast, Something To Talk About, below:

That all changed on Roberts’ upcoming movie Tightrope, where renowned intimacy coordinator Claire Warden was on set.

For the first time, Roberts had an advocate in her corner, and together they explored the value of crew members such as Warden while filming a new documentary called Make It Look Real.

“There’s absolutely nothing glamorous about shooting intimate sex scenes or kissing scenes in front of a massive crew,” Roberts says.

“My first kissing scene on Home And Away was with my now ex-husband [James Stewart, whom she married in 2019 after they met on the soap in 2017].

“No-one had walked us through what we were doing. It’s hard. Having an intimacy coordinator just make it all so much cleaner; it takes the stress away.”

Roberts says that making the documentary ultimately “changed my life. I learnt that I had absolutely no boundaries. I was just a ‘yes’ girl”.

“Which is great sometimes, but now that I’m 40, I look back at my life and it would have been great to have some boundaries and some respect for myself as well. I would sometimes bend over backwards, so far that I would break my back.

“Now I feel very confident walking onto sets, in my day-to-day life and in relationships. I know what I’ll stand for and what I won’t.”

Of her divorce, Sarah Roberts said it ‘ripped my heart into a million little pieces’. Picture: Steven Chee for Stellar

Though she left Home And Away in 2021, Roberts says she “could have stayed and played Willow for the rest of my life. But in retrospect, I can see that it was meant to be.”

In the years since, she has popped up in projects as varied as the comedy film Wog Boys Forever and the drama series Scrublands, and had the chance to pursue her career as a DJ.

“I would not have had all these amazing experiences,” she points out.

“Being challenged, setting boundaries and being able to tap into my comedic acting … I love going to set every day and laughing. I get to work with amazing actors and directors. And I love music.

“The luxury of my job means I’m able to travel around, so I’ve seen a lot of beautiful countries and met a lot of amazing people.”

In April 2024, Roberts revealed to Stellar that she and Stewart had finalised their divorce, and says the public scrutiny that came in the wake of her announcement was painful.

“Dealing with a divorce is hard enough,” she says.

Listen to Sarah Roberts on the Stellar podcast, Something To Talk About, below:

‘I stayed in something that wasn’t healthy!’ Former Home And Away star Sarah Roberts has addressed her divorce from ex-husband, James Stewart. Picture: News Corp Australia

“Dealing with it in the spotlight, and then everything that came out in the media after, absolutely ripped my heart into a million little pieces. But I can’t change anyone else’s actions or the way people behave.

“What I can take responsibility for is the way that I feel.

“And I know that hurt people hurt people, but healed people can heal people – and I’m so happy with where I’m at today. I’ve finally found a love for myself which I didn’t have.

“I have beaten myself up for a long time over the fact I stayed in something that wasn’t healthy.

“But now I have found this love for myself, and also fallen in love. “I feel grateful that I found him, because he’s allowed me to grow in beautiful and unexpected ways. But if I didn’t have that, I would still be OK. Because I finally found myself, as clichéd as that may sound.”

Roberts adds that one thing she does miss is the time she spent with her stepdaughter Scout, the now 13-year-old daughter Stewart shares with actor Jessica Marais. “I miss her terribly,” she tells Stellar.

“The biggest thing that I take away from that marriage is that you can love someone so deeply when they’re not even blood related or biologically yours.

“No-one can ever take that connection away from us. I raised her full-time for seven years and homeschooled her during Covid.

“I wouldn’t have had that if I didn’t go through all the hard times as well.”

Her divorce also brought to the fore emotions around the death of her brother Karl, who died in October 2019 from brain cancer, just months after her wedding day.

“Ending my marriage was really hard because that was the last time I really spent with my brother. He walked me down the aisle, so I almost felt that ending my marriage was betraying him.

“I absolutely know now that he would have wanted me to just be happy.”

To that end, she says, they still communicate: “I ask him for signs and he shows me signs. “There’s a project I wasn’t sure if I should say yes to coming up that involves a lot of exercise and training.

“So I decided to go on a run – I always used to train with my brother – and asked him, ‘Karl, can you just give me a sign: should I do the show?’ I looked up in the sky and there was not just one but two rainbows. He loved rainbows.”

Make It Look Real premieres at the 2025 Sydney Film Festival, June 4-15. For details, visit sff.org.au

Listen to the full interview with Sarah Roberts on the latest episode of the Stellar podcast, Something To Talk About, wherever you get your podcasts. See the shoot with her inside Stellar, out in the Sunday papers today.

Originally published as Former Home And Away star Sarah Roberts reveals new relationship after divorce from ex, James Stewart