Last year on this day we saw someone for the first time .What a journey !
Looking back, I think many of us focused on the wrong thing at first. Naturally, everyone was interested in the woman who suddenly appeared beside him. That was the obvious story. But over time, I’ve become less interested in Steph herself and much more interested in what her arrival appears to have coincided with.
For me, the biggest story isn’t Steph, it’s the shift in how Sam's perceived today compared with a few years ago. I don’t think it’s possible to separate those two stories completely. Since she entered the picture, we’ve watched a remarkably different version of Sam emerge. Not just in his appearance, but in his behaviour, priorities, public image and, increasingly, the choices he makes professionally.
Whether she actively shaped that change, reinforced parts of his personality that were already there, or whether he simply changed during that period, none of us can know because we can only observe what's visible. But I also don’t think it’s realistic to pretend there’s no connection at all. The timing is simply too consistent, and the patterns are too difficult to ignore.
What I keep seeing isn’t people saying he seems happier, more relaxed or more authentic. It's quite the opposite. More and more people describe him as distant, restless, increasingly image-conscious and oddly dissatisfied. Professionally, he also seems to be saying yes to almost everything that comes his way: rugby campaigns, ambassador roles, erotic audiobook one minute, children’s audiobook the next, collaborations with content creators who originally emerged from his own fandom. It often feels less like a clear long-term strategy and more like someone grasping at every opportunity that comes along in an increasingly desperate attempt to stay relevant.
The same applies to the public persona he seems to be leaning into. The cocktail videos, the increasingly laddish humour, the innuendos, the carefully curated “cheeky” image ......… perhaps that’s genuinely who he is. If so, fair enough but to me, it feels surprisingly forced and oddly out of step with the version of Sam many of us came to know over the years.
And then there’s Outlander. Even now, he doesn’t seem able to let it go. Instead of gradually stepping into a new phase of his career, he still appears to be reaching back for it whenever he can. To me, that doesn’t look like confidence. It looks increasingly like someone struggling to move on.
Of course, we don’t know what's actually going on in his mind or what his long-term plan is. There are still people who genuinely like this version of him, and that’s perfectly fine. Everyone responds differently. But I’ve yet to come across someone who says they believe he’s become a happier, more grounded or more authentic person over the past year.
So, looking back, I don’t think Steph was ever the real story. She was just the catalyst that made many people stop and ask a much bigger question:
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