If she's a prop, who is bankrolling it and all the NDAs to cover the Sam/Steph show? Not Starz. They have no skin in the game any more. Sam is not rich enough. Really after 14 years and hundreds if not probably thousands NDAs to manage on and off set of neighbors, friends, adjacent co workers, suppliers, caterers, co workers, production staff, staff of CB SH films not OL, there are a multitude of NDAs to cover this secret. Starz might have been able to afford it a low level Cable streamer (14 million), though not as low as 5M MGM plus, LOL. Now CB and SH don't have corporate flitting the bill. How is it being covered? Especially to produce a fake couple, which is completely unnecessary. OL is over. Why do this? If he needs to continue to hide his sexuality maybe but marriage to a woman like CB, after 14 years, that's not a taboo or problem, many co stars marry, carry on together. Showing it as real would be much less hassle and cost effect.
That's a really good question, Anon.
I touched on part of it in my previous answer, but I'll expand a little here.
First of all, I don't believe Sam is paying her directly. What I do think is that she works in some capacity for one his and Alex's companies.
A few weeks ago, I wrote a much longer post explaining why I came to that conclusion, so I won't repeat all of it here. But a large part of it comes down to Alex.
Their relationship has always struck me as unusually familiar, especially considering how little time they've supposedly spent together. Why does she turn to him? Why is he almost always there? Why does he often seem to act as a buffer between her and Sam?
He is the one talking to her. He was the one looking after her at the New York premiere. During the Tartan Day parade, most of the communication seemed to go through him.
There are quite a few examples, and if you're interested, you can find the full post on my blog.
As for the NDAs you mentioned, I honestly don't think that's what's happening.
Let's look at it another way.
How many people do you think Caitriona's son has met in the five years since he was born? Doctors, teachers, childcare workers, other parents, family friends... probably hundreds of people.
I highly doubt any of them were asked to sign an NDA.
And yet there isn't a single public photo of him and no one even knows his name.
Because people around her respect her privacy.
I think the same applies to their relationship. More importantly, I don't think the people around them have been treating it like some big secret. They simply don't go around talking about it.
Regarding Starz, I do think it's possible they had some involvement in the beginning. There was definitely a point where something seemed to shift, and it's entirely possible someone gave them advice or made recommendations.
But I don't think it was only them or that what we're seeing now is being dictated by Starz.
I think keeping a relationship private in this fandom is almost a survival strategy.
If I were in that position, I'd probably do exactly the same.
In fact, Sam himself has said something very similar before, that if they were in a relationship, they wouldn't tell.
So yes, it's entirely possible that what we're seeing is simply two people trying to protect their private lives. And if there is a conscious effort to keep something private, I think it comes from them, not from some outside force compelling them to do it.
