To The Moon And Back: Cynthia Samuel on Marrying Her Soulmate and Why Opposites Don’t Always Attract
From all the details of her big day to her advice for brides-to-be, the Lebanese actress talks candidly about her intimate wedding and what’s in store for her future with husband Adam Bakri
“I call him my sun and he calls me his moon,” Cynthia Samuel gushes when discussing her relationship with her husband, Palestinian actor Adam Bakri. The newlyweds took their vows in an intimate ceremony with of 80 of their closest friends and family in Limassol, Cyprus.
“My name in Greek is goddess of the moon,” she explains. “I was born on a crescent moon. Adam has always had a very personal relationship with the moon as well. There was one conversation that we had very early on when we were just friends and it just brought us together very quickly. The moon had a huge impact on our relationship.”
The couple, who got to know each on the set of the sci-fi drama Hell’s Gate, ensured that symbols played a big part in their day. Cynthia had a crescent moon, a sun, and the infinity sign embroidered into her wedding dress – a resplendent Grace Kelly-inspired gown by father and son design duo Georges & Jad Hobeika, which took 1,450 hours to make.
“Grace Kelly was always on my Pinterest board for whenever I got married in the future. When I spoke to Jad and Georges and told them that she was my inspiration they were like ‘oh, we’ve been dying to do a dress inspired by Grace Kelly!’ Also, my mum wore a similar design for her wedding – I felt like there was a lot of symbolism in it.
“I felt like my walls that had been built up by society were completely broken down when I became an actress because I was given the opportunity to make as many mistakes as I want,”
Cynthia Samuel
Her second dress was just as special. Cynthia asked for them to make a simple, white, flowy gown, and then Jad suggested creating a bodysuit for underneath “completely embroidered and bedazzled with everything that you want on the wedding dress.” The final result was two dresses that were beyond her wildest dreams – in fact, the co-creatives have a video of her crying the first time she saw them.
Adam wore a pair of cufflinks of a moon and an infinity sign gifted by his bride. When I ask what he gave her, she takes a moment to pause before reminiscing: “He wrote me a beautiful letter that brought me to tears right after I did my make-up. I still have that letter and… he has a way with words that made me giddy and just made me cry.
Cynthia says her keyword when briefing the venue was “simple”, stressing that she didn’t want too many flowers or anything that would look overdone. Although her top tip for brides is to know that “you will become a bridezilla at one point, even if you think you won’t. There’s a lot of things that just won’t go your way, budgets might get out of hand. It’s normal, it’s part of the process.” But by the time the wedding day arrived she was able to ignore anything that didn’t go to plan and focus on marrying her soulmate.
Cynthia and Adam regularly film each other’s auditions and can offer support in a way that people outside the industry can’t. “It’s really hard being with an actor. It’s really hard understanding the process of acting, understanding the challenging working hours, understanding that sometimes you’re just going to be gone for months. I always heard people tell me opposites attract, but for me I never got along with my opposite. We found it crazy how many similarities we had – to the point where we had the same degree of myopia. It was weird! There is no balancing each other out, we are just moving at the same pace.”
Their similarities extend to their competitive edges, and Cynthia describes them both as “big sore losers,” laughing about their Mario Kart competition nights – “we get really aggressive with it. It’s actually kind of crazy.”
Harnessing this determined attitude, Cynthia is pushing forward with her goals. She’s lined up to be the face of a few brands that she can’t mention yet, season two of Hell’s Gate is coming soon and, having recently signed with an agent in Hollywood, she’s currently auditioning for some exciting parts.
Acting isn’t just a passion for her – she likens it to therapy. “What helped me with my acting is that I’ve healed from my personal traumas through my characters,” she explains. “That’s a beautiful thing and that’s something that not a lot of actors mention. For me it was just the feeling of being limitless – the feeling that it’s okay to let your emotions get the best of you… to break the standards… to [annoy] people sometimes. I felt like my walls that had been built up by society were completely broken down when I became an actress because I was given the opportunity to make as many mistakes as I want. It was a blessing.”
Away from the spotlight, Cynthia is also looking at the next chapter. “I do want to start a family,” she says. “It’s something that we’ve spoken about and that we plan hopefully in the near future. I’m a Cancer so I have this mother instinct that’s already in me. I’ve never let go of my inner child. I think I’ll be a very hands-on, very present mother.” When I suggest that they could be the next big acting family she replies, “I wouldn’t be surprised! We’re very artistic people in general so art flows through us.”
With their affinity to celestial symbols, it would certainly be very apt for them to raise some little stars.
Photography: Tarek Moukaddem. Styling: Nour Bouezz. Make-Up: Raffaele Romagnoli. Hair: Aida Glow. Photography Assistant: Mark Anthony Navarro at HotCold Studio. Fashion Assistants: Imogene Legrand and Marguerita Christophoridis. With thanks to Flowers.ae
From the A/W22 Issue of Harper’s Bazaar Arabia Bride