Michelle Dockery admitted she was entering her ‘peppy phase’ on Tuesday evening as she prepares to welcome her first child with husband Jasper Waller-Bridge, DailyMail reports.
Michelle Dockery surprised fans by debuting a prominent baby bump during the UK premiere of eagerly anticipated Downton Abbey swansong, The Grand Finale, in September.
And Michelle Dockery looked radiant while continuing her promotional commitments with an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, during which she discussed the ‘bittersweet’ end of Downton after an astonishing 15-year run.
Teaming a fitted black gown with patent leather heels from artisanal lifestyle and footwear brand SAUVEREIGN, Dockery, 43, appeared to be in high spirits as she greeted onlookers following her arrival outside the show’s New York City studio.
The British star completed her look with a smart leather trench and heavily tinted sunglasses while posing for photos, before making her way inside ahead of a televised interview with Fallon.
‘I’m feeling great thanks,’ she told the host as he opened with a reference to her pregnancy. ‘I’m entering my peppy phase.’
The actress also admitted she had mixed feelings about drawing a line under Downton and her career defining role as Lady Mary Crawley.
‘It is bittersweet, it’s been fifteen years,’ she said of the franchise, which ran for six series on ITV, and its forthcoming third cinematic release.
‘It’s been a very long goodbye, but I think it’s in the title. This is definitely the last one.’
Released on September 12, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is set in 1930, some 18 years after the first episode.
It follows the Crawley family in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash and Lady Mary’s scandalous divorce.
Michelle Dockery was left heartbroken in 2015 when her fiancé, Irish publicist John Dineen, died following a 15-month battle against a rare form of cancer aged 34.
She later married Jasper Waller-Bridge – the younger brother of award-winning Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge – in 2023, during a romantic ceremony attended by her Downton Abbey co-stars.
The Mail on Sunday first revealed that Dockery found love for the first time since Dineen’s passing after they met through mutual friends.
In January 2022 the couple announced they were to marry in an announcement in The Times newspaper.
It read: ‘The engagement is announced between Jasper, son of Michael Waller-Bridge of King’s Lynn, Norfolk, and Teresa Waller-Bridge of Battersea, London, and Michelle Dockery, younger daughter of Michael and Lorraine Dockery of Gidea Park, Essex.’
Michelle Dockery, who grew up in Romford, Essex, is the daughter of Lorraine, a care home assistant from Stepney, East London and Michael Dockery, a surveyor from Athlone, Ireland.
Waller-Bridge was born and raised in West London by his mother Teresa and father Michael, now married to the designer Rosemary Goodenough.
The actress has been nominated for three consecutive Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.