The news of a fourth season of Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso this spring sent waves of jubilation through the internet. Central to that celebration is the return of beloved and bold businesswoman Rebecca Welton, aptly played by Emmy-award-winning actress Hannah Waddingham.
Waddingham, who has a long and prominent career on stage and film, is in high demand these days: In 2025 alone, her projects include Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Netflix’s The Woman in Cabin 10, Smurfs, and Lilo and Stitch.
Her expansion into animated character voicing is something she does for her daughter, whom she had and raises solo.
“I love that she can take her little buddies to the cinema and be like, ‘That's my mom, she's bonkers,” Waddingham says. “I never mean to sound saccharine, but I didn't think I was going to be able to have children, and I’m so blessed that my girl came my way. Seeing who she's becoming is an absolute joy and marvel every day.”
Last summer, Waddingham and her daughter reached life benchmarks together: Her little one turned 10, and five days later, Waddingham turned 50. The two celebrated their joint milestones in a “massive, messy, fabulous celebration.”
Although turning 50 certainly felt prominent, Waddingham says there’s nothing foreboding to her about aging, which is the feeling society tends to assign to it.
“I just see it as a complete and utter victory to get to 50,” Waddingham says.” I am far more certain of who I am, who I try to be for the people I love, who I am to my beloved daughter. And I'm down for all of it.”
Barbies and Best Friends
In an industry full of photoshoots and closeups, Waddingham says she’s not interested in “being airbrushed to death.” Earlier this year, Mattel approached her and Ted Lasso co-star Juno Temple about creating Barbies in their honor for International Women’s Day. She was delighted to agree — with a caveat.
“I very much insisted that mine had a definition and a muscle on the arm,” Waddingham says. “I was like, ‘Can we make her butt a little bit bigger? Can we make her boobs a little bit bigger?’ Because I wasn't into it unless it was more realistic. And I'm really glad that they listened to that.”
Temple, 35, and Waddingham are even closer off camera than their best-friend characters are on the show. Since Temple “exploded into her life and stayed there,” Waddingham says they’re committed to each other for life. The idea that younger and older women are at odds because of jealousy or rivalry is a myth, she says. Friendship between women — no matter their ages — is the ultimate sisterhood.
“I find our age difference completely irrelevant, because does she have any less foibles, worries, concerns, neuroses than I do because she’s younger? God, no.
"They're just different,” Waddingham says.
An Anti-Antiaging Approach
Like most people entering midlife, Waddingham focuses on her health in new ways these days, with a goal of living life to the fullest. A self-professed “foodie,” Waddingham says she focuses on portion control over food category restrictions because life is too short not to have the things you enjoy.
“I think it helps me to look at it broadly like that instead of ‘eat this many grams of protein,’ and ‘stop eating this food altogether,’” Waddingham says. “Because if I can't have a little bit of everything I love, then what is the point?”
Even though her work puts her on a very visible platform, she’s clear that the point isn’t just to be a pretty face. If you’re not doing a lot of “fiddling around with your face,” she says, you see a difference on camera through the years, and you have to get right with that.
“The term ‘anti-aging’ is my bugbear,” she says. “I'm totally down with whatever anyone wants to do, whether it’s modern interventions, or holistic practices, or whatever. But the fact is, we are all aging every minute of every day. And that’s a gift.”
An Icon — Who's Just Like You
Playing Rebecca Welton is cathartic for Waddingham, who sees the strong-willed and buttoned-up character as someone she might have been if she’d made different choices early in her life.
“She’s the ‘Sliding Doors’ version of me, had I turned left instead of turning right or looked up instead of looking down in my 20s,” Waddingham says. “I would say I'm much more of a ramshackle, young at heart, silly bohemian.”
Like her Ted Lasso character, though, Waddingham is someone who isn’t afraid to forge her own path.
Growing up, her father encouraged her always to speak her mind and not be cowed into going along with other people’s opinions.
“I am definitely far more front-footed because I do like my generation of women leading the way for the younger ones to come up,” she says.
And if she’s to be an inspiration to women, Waddingham says, she wants to present the realest version of herself.
“This is where I can't stress highly enough to every- one who thinks I've got [it all] together all the time, I’m saying through a loudspeaker: Trust me, I don't,” says Waddingham. “Everything's on a wing and a prayer all the time, and I think that's fine as well. It's an amazing time in my life. I'm exhausted out of my mind constantly, but I wouldn't have it any other way. It's just a really wonderful place that I find myself in.”
