Miss Marple star Greta Sacchi caused a rift in her family with her choice of romantic partner in the 1990s. The acclaimed actress starred as a middle-aged Tuppence Beresford in the episode By the Pricking of My Thumbs of the Agatha Christie's Marple television series in 2006. Nine years earlier, in 1997, she had settled down with Carlo Mantegazza, and they had a son, Matteo, together. However, the relationship left her Italian father "devastated" as Carlo is his sister's son - Greta's first cousin - who is three years older than the now 66-year-old star and worked for the family’s import-export textile business. 

The couple had been together for several  months before she broke the news to her family when she was in the first trimester of her pregnancy. "My dad, Luca, was deeply offended and quite devastated. He was very angry," Greta said, adding several of her elderly uncles were equally outspoken in their condemnation.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, she said they declared the relationship with Mantegazza unacceptable and against the Catholic Church. "We were hounded by the media and a lot of nasty stuff has been written about me as a result," she said in 2011.

Explaining how the relationship began, she said they had been friends for a long time before they developed feelings for each other, "one night when he was visiting, and it came as a complete shock".

"Some of the Italian relatives were utterly outraged. My dad found it especially hard because he had cut himself off from all his kin (because of personality clashes) except Carlo, who was his favourite nephew.

"They were close friends, and for a while afterwards they didn't speak. Dad was furious, and Carlo was very hurt," she said.

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The fallout was such that the star of such films as White Mischief (1987), Presumed Innocent (1990), The Player (1992) and Emma (1996) feared she may have to get rid of her baby and said: "It felt like the end of the world."

Adding to the stress was her then five-year-old daughter Leila, whose father is the Italian American actor and Law & Order: Criminal Intent star Vincent D’Onofrio. The child was furious at the thought of sharing her mother’s affections for the first time.

Despite all the flak, the couple weathered the storm until 2010 when they amicably parted ways. In 2022, a source close to the couple told MailOnline: "They simply grew apart as couples often do, but there's no animosity between them whatsoever. They obviously have a son together and wish each other well. It just wasn't meant to be.

"Greta's privacy is very important to her, and she's never been comfortable discussing anything about her own life off-screen. Both she and Carlo are very private people."