MY
BIT OF RAFF
Apr 24 2003
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BAD
GIRLS SIMONE REVEALS SHE WILL WED ITALIAN HUNK
Anne Brown Exclusive
FORMER Bad Girls star Simone Lahbib will
marry in Scotland next month.
The Stirling-born actress will wed her long-term lover, who
we can reveal is actor Raffaello Degruttola.
The couple have been engaged for two years but Simone had refused
to name the 31- year-old.
She had considered marrying in London, where she now lives.
But eventually she decided to have a small ceremony for close
family and friends in her home town.
The pair met when Simone was starring in the ITV series Thief
Takers.
Raffaello, whose films include Saving Private Ryan, proposed
five years later.
Simone, 37, said: "It was really out of the blue and he
did the proper thing and asked my dad's permission for my hand
in marriage. It was really special."
Raffaello knew instantly that she was the one for him. Simone
explained: "About three weeks after meeting him and us
courting, he said to me, `I know you are the woman I am going
to marry.'
"That's one of the things I love about him, he's a very
clear-thinking person."
Raffaello is half Italian and half English but was brought up
in America.
He has just finished filming Citizen Verdict with talk-show
host turned actor Jerry Springer.
Simone's Bad Girls character as a bisexual prison boss made
her famous.
But she is playing a gangster's sister in her latest role in
new ITV show Family, alongside ex- Eastender Martin Kemp.
The eldest of five children, Simone was brought up in Stirling,
attending St Modan's High School.
She feels her Scots upbringing helped shape her as an actress.
She said: "At times, it was tough. That strengthened my
resolve."