The two Home and Away stars and on-screen lovers started dating earlier this year after a 25-year friendship.

Home and Away star Ada Nicodemou has shared more details about her unexpected romance with co-star James Stewart, after their 25-year friendship blossomed into a relationship earlier this year. James, who was previously married to former Home and Away star Sarah Roberts, and Ada, who split from Adam Rigby last year, surprised fans when their relationship became public in April, following their appearance kissing together.

The couple made their official debut at the 2024 Logies in August, and Ada has spoken about their relationship several times, describing it as “unexpected” during a Sunrise interview in July.

Recently, Ada appeared on Mamamia’s No Filter podcast, where she opened up to Mia Freedman about how their friendship evolved into a romantic relationship.

Ada Nicodemou’s ‘shock’ at feelings for James Stewart: ‘It was weird’

While Ada and James have been playing on-screen lovers on Home and Away for years, Ada expressed her shock at her feelings towards James changing from friendship to romantic.

“Jimmy and I have known each other for 25 to 30 years and there were no feelings for a really, really long time. So I was shocked when I started having feelings,” Ada shared. “There was this chemistry for the first time — this spark that happened that wasn’t there before and it was weird.”

She went on to say they had never hung out outside of the workplace, so it had been “lovely” getting to know each other off set.

“It was very new, we were just getting together and we wanted to do our thing. Unfortunately, we were papped kissing while waiting for an Uber,” she said. “Everyone knew who needed to know anyway.”

How their Home and Away co-stars found out

Naturally given their working relationship and the amount of time they spend on set, Ada said she initially told people in the Home and Away cast that she was “close with” and then “word got around”.

“I figured I didn’t need to tell anyone else,” she said. “We didn’t need a group email, people just worked it out.”

Ada also spoke on hard-launching their relationship on their own terms at the 2024 Logies, TV’s night of nights.

“It’s a work event, but it was the first time we were photographed together and all that. It was really nice to share that moment with him and finally go, ‘Yeah we’re together,’” she said.