Dominic West reflected on the affair rumors surrounding him and Lily James.
The two starred in the BBC adaptation of The Pursuit of Love, where Dominic played Lily's father. In October 2020, The Affair actor was pictured kissing her neck and embracing her while they rode scooters around Rome. The only problem was that Dominic was still married to aristocrat Catherine FitzGerald, and had been since 2010.
Catherine and Dominic subsequently held a press conference outside their home, where they kissed and handed photographers a handwritten note that read, "Our marriage is strong, and we're very much still together."
In a new interview with the Sunday Times, Dominic was asked whether his experiences with the press impacted how he portrayed noted affair-haver Prince Charles in The Crown. He replied, "Definitely. 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."
"There is that dreadful freezing moment when something is being revealed about you. I think anyone can understand how that feels," he continued. "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."
Later on, Dominic reflected explicitly on the time following the Rome trip and the subsequent press conference. He explained, "I hesitate to speak on my wife’s behalf because it was obviously horrible, particularly for her."
With a laugh, he continued, “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.’ 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?’"
“It was an absurd situation. It was deeply stressful for my wife and my kids, but there were lighter moments," he added. "That was the best that came out of it, really."
