Dominic West and Catherine FitzGerald have overcome his 2020 scandal after he was photographed kissing Lily James.
“I hesitate to speak on my wife’s behalf because it was obviously horrible, particularly for her,” West, 54, told London’s The Sunday Times in a profile published on Sunday, April 21. “But we do joke about it sometimes. Because whenever we went out together, the papers would always say we were ‘putting on a show of unity.’”
He added, “Even if we’d just been rowing about parking the car or whatever, even if that couldn’t be further from the truth. And so when we go out we do sort of say, ‘Shall we go and have a show of unity up in London?’”
West and FitzGerald, 52, have been married since 2010. However, in October 2020, the Crown star was photographed kissing James, his The Pursuit of Love costar, in Rome, sparking affair rumors. West stroked James’ hair as they rode around the Eternal City on an electric scooter. He was not wearing his wedding ring in the snaps.
Shortly after the photos were published, West and FitzGerald confirmed in a statement that they were “very much still together.” They put their statement in a handwritten note left outside their Wiltshire, England, home as they also kissed for the photographers waiting on their street. The posed photos were dubbed a “show of unity” amid the scandal.
“It was an absurd situation. It was deeply stressful for my wife and my kids, but there were lighter moments,” West told The Sunday Times. “That was the best that came out of it, really.”
West and FitzGerald share four children: sons Senan, 15, and Francis, 14, and daughters Dora, 18, and Christabel, 8. The Affair alum also shares eldest daughter Martha, 25, with ex-girlfriend Polly Astor.
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While West did not mention James, 35, by name in Sunday’s interview, he also revealed that the situation helped his portrayal of King Charles III on Netflix’s The Crown. (The British king, 75, infamously had an affair with now-wife Queen Camilla when he was married to the late Princess Diana.)
“I’d had a very acute understanding of what it’s like to feel the horror of your name or your photograph coming up in the newspapers,” West recalled. “There is that dreadful freezing moment when something is being revealed about you. I think anyone can understand how that feels. But I’d been through it a couple of years previously and it must have informed how I approached it. That gut feeling of horror isn’t something you get inured to.”
James, for her part, previously addressed the rumors during a 2021 interview with The Guardian. “Ach, I’m not really willing to talk about that,” she said at the time. “There is a lot to say, but not now, I’m afraid.”
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