Dominic West Once Said He Felt ‘Women Should Be More Indulgent of Affairs’
Dominic West and Lily James set tongues wagging after they were spotted getting cozy in Rome on Oct. 12. The Wire actor locked lips with the Cinderella star in Italy, as seen in photos first published by the Daily Mail. The pair shared a scooter ride and then enjoyed a meal together al fresco, where the married West, 50, appeared to lean in to kiss the 31-year-old James’s neck. The actors are set to co-star in a forthcoming adaptation of Nancy Mitford’s novel The Pursuit of Love.
West — who has been married since 2010 to landscape designer Catherine FitzGerald — made it clear the next day that he and his wife have not split as they put on some PDA for the paparazzi outside of their home in England.
“Our marriage is strong and we’re very much still together,” they declared in a handwritten note shared with the media.
Dominic West once said ending a marriage over a fling would be ‘daft’
In addition to The Wire, where he played self-destructive Baltimore police detective Jimmy McNulty, West is known for starring on Showtime’s The Affair, a show about marital infidelity. In 2016, he gave an interview to London’s Evening Standard where he spoke about cheating.
“I mean, I think women should be more indulgent of affairs,” he said. “I really do. It’s daft to kick someone out over a fling. Isn’t it? Everyone should turn a blind eye to men’s behavior between the ages of 40 and 50. Let it all blow over.”
The English actor is known for making controversial remarks. Recently, he was criticized after saying during an appearance on Good Morning Britain that he “did slightly leap in the air with joy” after learning of Donald Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis (via Deadline). And the Evening Standard reporter noted that it seemed West wasn’t being entirely serious with his remarks on infidelity.
West met his wife in college, but they didn’t marry until much later
West and FitzGerald have been married for a decade and have four children ranging in age from 5 to 14. (He also has another child from a previous relationship.) He talked about his relationship with his wife in a 2015 interview with British Vogue, explaining that he first fell for her when they were in college.
“I fell in love with my wife when I was at university and I managed to persuade her to fall in love with me for about three months but then she ran away,” he said. FitzGerald, an Irish aristocrat, eventually married another man. After her divorce, she reconnected with West, who said he’d “been in love with her” since they met.
West went on to say that while he felt he and FitzGerald had a “really good marriage” he didn’t expect “perfection” from the relationship.
“I think, really, what marriage is is two people helping each other to live the best lives they can,” he said. “And that’s what happened with me and my missus. That’s why it works. She doesn’t get jealous, either.”
