UK couple who met during Snow White panto are now ‘living their own fairytale’

Meet the couple who fell in love performing as Snow White's seven dwarves in panto - who say they're 'living their own fairytale' after getting married and having two boys with dwarfism.

Mum-of-two Laura Phillips, 31, was born with achondroplasia - a type of dwarfism that prevents the changing of cartilage to bone - leaving her standing at just 4ft 1inch tall.

She was the only person with the condition in her family when she was born but refused to let it hold her back and went on to travel the world and become an extra in blockbuster movies, including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Whilst playing 'Sorry' - one of the dwarves - in a panto production of Snow White in 2012, Laura fell unexpectedly in love with fellow cast member, Nathan Phillips, 42, who has pseudoachondroplasia dwarfism - despite having never dated anyone with dwarfism before.

After marrying in August 2016, the pair went on to have their children - Nathan, seven, and Jax, two - and their son, 'little Nathan', became one of the very few people in the world to have double dwarfism, after inheriting the different dwarfism genes from each of his parents.

Laura now shares what it’s like to be a family with dwarfism on her TikTok, where she is more than happy to answer questions about anything from whether the children are bullied at school, to how they decorate their 7ft Christmas tree.

Laura, a full-time mum, from Sunderland, Tyne and Wear - who is starring in her local panto production of Snow White again this year - said: "We love being a little family and wouldn't change it for the world.

"When I met Nathan, he was playing 'Grouchy' the dwarf - but I soon realised he was far from the character and fell madly in love.

"When I was younger people would laugh and stare, but the world has changed so much for the better and that makes me so happy.

"People now recognise us in the street and wave and stop for a chat - I feel a bit like a local celeb.

"I love answering people’s questions, it’s nice to know they are interested and want to learn and improve their understanding of dwarfism.

“I never take offence - you know when people are being offensive, and luckily that very rarely happens to us.

“We’re just a normal family really - the only thing that’s different about us is that we’re little and that doesn't bother us. There's no way we'd want to be an average height.

“I wouldn’t change a thing."

When Laura was growing up, she found having dwarfism a huge struggle.

“I was in tears, always crying - I said I didn’t want to be here because I didn’t like how people looked at me,” Laura said.

“It wasn’t until I was 13 that I accepted who I was and appreciated that I was different.”

Laura says that the understanding of dwarfism has improved significantly since she was younger - giving her reassurance that her two young boys won’t have to go through what she did.

“I did always worry for little Nathan, but things have changed so much,” she said.

“It’s lovely. It melts my heart every day how much his friends love him - they just see him as one of the boys.

“Now a lot of people seem a lot more educated than when I was younger.”

Laura met her now-husband, Nathan, while the pair were playing two of Snow White's seven dwarves in a pantomime production in Bath, Somerset.

They then went on to film together on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - both playing goblins at Gringotts bank - where they spent four hours in hair and make up.

“All my boyfriends in previous relationships had been average height, and I remember messaging my auntie and was like: ‘I really like this guy... he’s little as well,'” Laura said.

"He was playing Grouchy in the panto - but he was actually kind and funny, and we immediately hit it off.

"And here we are now - two kids, a dog, a home.”

When Laura fell pregnant in 2013, the couple were told there was a 25 percent chance their child would be born average height.

They went on to have little Nathan in November 2013, followed by Jax in 2018 – and said they never had any reservations about starting a family, despite what people may think.

“With my condition and with Nathan’s condition, for us to have a child with both isn’t a bad thing,” Laura said.

“Had it been me with another little person who has my exact condition, then I would have questioned having kids because double achondroplasia is fatal.”

Jax has just his mum’s condition – achondroplasia – and little Nathan has both his mum and his dad’s - achondroplasia and pseudoachondroplasia - meaning he has double dwarfism.

Laura says people wrongly believe they’re ‘in a lot of pain and almost crippled’ - but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“They think we’re in agony and that we’re wrong for having children because we’re passing it on,” Laura said.

“We’re not, we’re just little, that’s it.”

Although the stigma and understanding around dwarfism has improved since Laura was a young girl, she still wants to encourage conversation about the condition to further raise awareness and help people to understand.

“I love answering questions,” Laura said.

“It’s a good thing, it’s not a bad thing or people being rude.

“People always say ‘please don’t take offence’ - and I never do.

“We know when people are being offensive, and those people aren’t the ones asking questions.”

Laura says the family are treated differently because of their condition – but not in a bad way in the slightest.

“Everyone around here knows us, because we’re different I suppose,” she said.

“We stand out, but it’s nice. People are always saying hi in the street or asking how we are.

“A lot of the time I don’t know them, but they know us.

“People at the supermarket are always so helpful and ask if they can help us reach anything.

“It’s so nice to know people are looking out for us.”

This Christmas, Laura is starring in Sunderland's pantomime performance of Snow White, playing Smiler, one of the panto's seven dwarves.

She says little Nathan loves to come and watch and tell all his friends about his mum being on stage, and has hopes of becoming an actor himself one day.

"From around the age of five little Nathan has asked many times if he can be a dwarf in the pantomime with me," Laura said.

"When I'm in panto and the schools have broken up, he comes into work with me every day and hangs out with the cast.

"He absolutely loves it.

"It makes me feel really proud of what I do and who we are."

The family don't let their short stature stop them from having an impressive Christmas tree either, and enjoy a seven-footer every year which they decorate with the help of Laura's sister, Kristen, 26, who is average height.

Laura says she wouldn’t change being born with dwarfism, because everything she’s done in life has been ‘because I’m little’.

“I met my husband because we’re little,” she said.

“I’ve travelled the world three times with three different stage shows.

“Everything that I’ve done that’s been so amazing is because of my size – and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

You can follow the family's adventures on Tiktok at @nathan.and.jaxs.mam