Academy award winning actor Colin Firth just announced that he and his wife Livia have decided to divorce after 22 years of marriage. In a statement today, the King's Speech star said that the two were committed to successfully co-parenting and that the pair would maintain a "close friendship" with one another (via The Daily Mail). The couple share two children together: sons Luca and Matteo.
The full statement from the pair read as follows:
"Colin and Livia Firth have separated. They maintain a close friendship and remain united in their love for their children. They kindly ask for privacy. There will be no further comment."
Accusations of Infidelity
The split comes just months after it was revealed that Livia had engaged in an affair with a childhood friend from 2015-2016.
The Italian film producer confessed to having a year-long romance with childhood friend Marco Brancaccia, though she claimed that the relationship occurred when she and Colin were privately separated. However, Livia added that after she reconciled with Colin and ended the relationship, Mr. Brancaccia began "stalking her."
"A few years ago Colin and Livia privately made the decision to separate. During that time, Livia briefly became involved with former friend Mr. Brancaccia. The Firths have since reunited. Subsequently, Mr. Brancaccia carried out a frightening campaign of harassment over several months, much of which is documented," the couple said in a statement this past March, per USA Today.
However, Brancaccia claimed that there had been no separation, and that Livia invented claims of stalking and harassment to cover up their ill-fated romance.
"We were romantically involved, she wanted to leave Colin for me," he said (via USA Today). "My 'stalking' consisted of two messages via WhatsApp after she ended our relationship in June 2016, and an email."
Colin Firth's Romantic History
Now that Colin is single, many are looking at his dating history to get clues to whom he might date next. Though his romantic past is not extensive, it does show that he has dated co-stars on more than one occasion. For example, he was romantically linked with Jennifer Ehle, who played the Elizabeth Bennet to his Mr. Darcy in the critically acclaimed BBC miniseries Pride and Prejudice.
He also was involved with Valmont co-star Meg Tilly, whom he dated from 1989 to 1994. The two share a son, Will Firth, together.
In the meantime, the Love Actually actor has a number of film projects to keep him busy. His World War II film Operation Mincemeat just entered pre-production, and he was two films -- Supernova and The Secret Garden -- in post.
He also recently was in the smash hit Kingsman 2, and travelled to South Korea for the premiere there.
