The soap stars, who played Ziggy Astoni and Dean Thompson in Home and Away, have gone long-distance as they now live on opposite ends of the world for the time being
Patrick O’Connor and Sophie Dillman didn’t just play everyone’s favourite Home and Away couple – they also date in real life.
The Dean Thompson and Ziggy Astoni actors left the show in 2023 and have since spent time working and travelling outside of Australia.
However, more recently, they have been living on opposite ends of the world.
Eight-year friendship
While they first announced their relationship back in September 2019, the pair actually knew each other for many years before their soap debut together.
The pair have an eight-year long friendship that started when they studied together at acting school in Queensland.
After finishing their degrees, they both ended up on Home and Away with Sophie joining the cast first.
She made her first appearance in 2017 as Ziggy Astoni, a woman running away from her past.
Patrick joined the show the following year in 2018 as a new River Boy from good ole’ Mangrove River.
Their characters’ relationship began to develop as Dean supported Ziggy through the breakdown of her marriage to Brody Morgan after discovering his affair.
Romance
Patrick and Sophie moved in together in 2020 and adopted an adorable little puppy together.
They were in lockdown together with Patrick even putting together a special birthday celebration for Sophie at home.
The actor surprised his girlfriend with a romantic lunch as he dressed up as an old school waiter in a red and white striped suit.
The pair were treated to some aphrodisiacs as they enjoyed some delicious-looking oysters.
Patrick called Sophie his “number one” in a touching birthday tribute, adding that he couldn’t imagine living “this crazy life” without her.
Long distance
After they both left Home and Away in 2023, they started travelling and explored different parts of Europe, before spending an extended amount of time in the UK.
However, after two years, Sophie decided to return to Australia while Patrick remained there for work.
“The grey weather was a major reason I had to come back as I kept getting really sick over there,” she told Woman’s Day in March.
“It’s not bothering Patrick, he’s still got many adventures he wants to do and I’m so happy he’s made that decision. [Long-distance relationships] can get complicated sometimes because we don’t know any different.”
“We worked together before we were together and then we started dating, so we’ve never spent this much time apart,” she added.
They shared that they are still going strong” and are “supportive” of each other.
