James Stewart and Ada Nicodemou are all loved up, but there’s one activity that their kids are flat out refusing to take part in.
Whilst James shares daughter Scout, 14, with his ex Jessica Marais, his fiancee Ada is mum to 12-year-old son Johnas, her son with with her ex-partner Chrys Xipolitas.
Speaking exclusively to New Idea at the annual awards ceremony for the Focus On Ability Short Film Festival on Sunday, the Home and Away stars say their first Christmas as an engaged couple will be a quiet one but Scout and Johnas will not cooperate when it comes to road trip entertainment.
“I think really low-key family stuff. Jimmy’s family’s in Queensland, my family’s here so we’re going to do a bit of both,” Ada admits.
“It was really weird because we took the kids on planes overseas and then this year we said for Christmas we’re going on a road trip and they were like ‘Nine hours in a car with you guys?'” laughs James.
“I was like ‘Yeah back then we had 99 bottles of beer on the wall’ and they said, ‘We’re not singing, we’re taking our phones and headphones!'”
James popped the question to Ada on Valentine’s Day this year but whilst love is well and truly in the air, the couple reveal they are in no rush to get down the aisle.
“We’re just enjoying being engaged at the moment, we’ve had a great year we’ve gone on two great trips,” Ada says.
“We took our kids to Europe so it was the start of blending our families,” James adds.
Along with Home and Away alum Lynne McGranger and Cop Shop star Paula Duncan, Ada and James stepped out to support the short film competition and praised the focus on people with disabilities and film-making.
“I love the title Focus on Ability, it’s focusing on people with disabilities telling great stories and doing what they love and what they’re passionate about,” Ada says.
“I concur completely. And you know disabilities that you don’t often see, mental health is a really big issue these days and I think we’re seeing a great amount of work coming out of that space which is excellent,” James adds.
Ada also remarked on how the arts have become a lot more inclusive in recent years.
“When I was younger there was no one that even looked like me on TV whereas these days there are so many different stories being told.”
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