Home and Away co-stars Ada Nicodemou and James Stewart have known each other for almost 30 years, and yet neither could have predicted that their friendship would one day blossom into love.
The couple first sparked romance rumours after sharing a kiss outside a Sydney pub on ANZAC Day in 2024.
Since then they have been spotted with James’ daughter Scout on multiple occasions. Ada also has a child, a son named Johnas.
They first crossed paths on the set of the Aussie drama Breakers in 1998, but it would take more than 25 years and several other relationships in the meantime until they began dating.
Ada is thought to have split from Adam Rigby at the end of 2023, while James’ ex-wife Sarah Roberts confirmed their divorce in April 2024.
The actress confirmed their romance in July 2024 during an interview with Stellar magazine.
“Jimmy and I are together, yes,” the mother-of-one said at the time.
As co-stars on Home and Away – portraying married couple Leah and Justin – Ada stressed that she and James keep things professional on set.
“We keep it all very separate,” she shared with the publication.
“We’ve always been very comfortable working with each other.”
Just over a week after going public with their relationship in July, Ada shared further details about their “unexpected” romance.
“We’ve been friends for a very long time. It was very unexpected but we’re happy and it’s really lovely,” she said on the Hughesy, Ed, and Erin show.
They went to their first Logies as a couple a month later, which James told TV WEEK months later that it was a “big thing”.
Speaking with the hosts of Mamamia’s No Filter podcast in October 2024, Ada revealed how their Home and Away co-stars found out about their relationship.
The mother-of-one told the podcast that though she told some members of the cast she was close with, the word eventually got around.
“I figured I didn’t need to tell anyone else,” she said.
“We didn’t need a group email, people just worked it out.”
She also shared further details about how their friendship transformed into romantic feelings.
“I was shocked when I started having feelings. There was this chemistry for the first time — this spark that happened that wasn’t there before and it was weird,” she said.
The couple also came together for a sweet Christmas shoot with TV Week at the end of 2024. While they celebrated festivities in different states with their families, they said they would find a way to celebrate together, and looked forward to the year ahead.
One big change was that both of their kids entered high school this year. “Scout got herself into this big, beautiful school, and I’m looking forward to that,” James said.
For Ada, she said she was “a bit emotional” about it.
Before they returned to school, they all went to Queensland’s theme parks as a blended family.
While they are both relatively private on social media, they do take moments to share loved-up snaps and gush about one another.
For their first Valentine’s Day, Ada shared a selfie with her beau with the caption: “You have my heart ❤️ happy valentines”, and tagged him.
The couple also celebrated their one-year anniversary at Mimi’s at the Coogee Pavilion. In the carousel of photos on Instagram, which Ada captioned “Just perfect ❤️”, they are sharing lunch and James kisses her cheek.
The chefs also wrote them a note wishing them a happy anniversary!
Start your love journey for FREE today, with eHarmony.
