The Colin Firth-Livia Giuggioli story last week just sort of destroyed me. I really thought they had a great marriage, a strong marriage. But no, we can’t have nice things. Livia spent months of 2015 and 2016 carrying on some kind of torrid affair with an old friend by the name of Marco Brancaccia. At some point, Livia called it off with Marco. And he went into full-on Fatal Attraction mode, emailing Colin Firth to tell him about the affair, and sending photos of himself (Marco) with Livia to Colin. Marco allegedly began stalking Livia and her family and Colin and Livia then “reunited” and joined forces to ask the Italian courts for a restraining order, and for Marco to be charged with stalking and harassment. Livia admits that she had an affair with Marco, and she and Colin made a public statement about how the affair came at a moment of quiet separation between them, and that their marriage is totally fine now.
Historically speaking, the British tabloids don’t waste a lot of ink on Colin Firth. They’ll publish photos of him when they get them, for sure, but there’s not an industry or a desire in Britain to turn Firth into some kind of tabloid fixture. But with this news, the British papers are like “holy sh-t this is messy!!!” Which is why the Daily Mail did some kind of deep dive on Marco, who he is, his history, and what’s really going on with the Firth family. They also interviewed Marco extensively, because of course they did. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
Marco claims the stalking story is rubbish: ‘I fell in love completely with Livia. I felt she was the woman of my life. I loved her very much, very much,’ he said, adding that accusations of stalking are ‘rubbish’ and that the real story is that of ‘a famous couple trying to cover up her love affair. They totally freaked out that I would go public and tell everyone this story, so they filed a complaint against me for stalking.’
What Brancaccia says about the stalking: Brancaccia’s alleged campaign of harassment is said to have extended from September 2016 to April 2017. He claims, however, that during that period he sent only two WhatsApp messages to Livia and a single email to Colin. ‘I was based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and she was in London,’ says Brancaccia. ‘I have not made one single phone call to her. Not one. I am the only case in the world of a stalker living in another continent and not making one single phone call. How is that possible?’
The email Marco sent to Colin Firth: Brancaccia is said to have sent a ‘heartbreaking and malicious’ email to Firth, who confronted Livia with it 18 months ago. The message is said to have included a ‘detailed diatribe’ of their affair and contained revelations ‘designed to wound’. A friend of Firth’s said the email was an attempt to destabilise Colin and Livia’s attempt to sort things out in their marriage, adding: ‘He described intimate meetings that would devastate any husband — no matter what the state of their marriage. Colin presented this to his wife in what must have been a very difficult confrontation. But he has maintained his dignity throughout.’
The affair: According to Brancaccia, he attended a party at the Firth’s home in Umbria while the actor was away filming in the summer of 2015. ‘We had dinner, we danced and at the end of the evening we kissed, and that was the beginning of our story. ‘We met in many places because she was travelling or we arranged some trips. She visited me in Brazil. I went to London. We were in New York, Iceland and Prague together. We met in Rome. She seemed to be a wonderful person. And she’s beautiful, of course. We’d been friends for many years and suddenly this magic sparkle erupted and we fell in love. Both of us. She wanted to divorce. This is what she said to me. I believed it. I had no reason to doubt it.’
Brancaccia has a history of threatening behavior towards ex-lovers: Nearly 15 years ago, he was embroiled in a lengthy bitter legal battle with his Icelandic former partner, Snaefridur Baldvinsdottir, over custody of their daughter, Marta. The family had been living in Mexico where Marco was working at the time, but politician’s daughter Snaefridur (known as Didi) used an emergency passport issued by the Icelandic embassy in Mexico City to return to Iceland in 2003 after Brancaccia allegedly seized their daughter’s passport. Brancaccia accused her of child abduction and said that her father had misused his political influence to assist his daughter’s flight. She later told Reykjavik District Court in 2004 that Brancaccia’s behaviour towards her had been violent, something he absolutely denied. The case was widely reported in Icelandic newspapers. Tragically, Didi died in 2013 after suffering an epileptic fit at home in Iceland. But her 79-year-old father, Jon Baldvin Hannibalsson, former chairman of the Icelandic Social Democratic Party, told me that his daughter, who was signed to Elite models at the age of 17 and went on to become a university lecturer, ‘was afraid of Marco’.
I’ll say it again: God, this is messy. The only thing I think Marco is being truthful about is the passionate state of the affair when it was happening – they would travel to see each other, she would tell him that she planned to divorce Colin Firth, everything was hot and passionate and secret… until the bloom was off the rose. Until Livia came to her senses. Until Marco possibly did something to scare her. And then she came to her senses in a hurry and tried to break it off with him and he went all Fatal Attraction on her. That’s what I believe. As for whether Colin and Livia were really and truly separated at that time… no, I don’t think they were. And I think Colin is simply being a gentleman about Livia’s affair, and he’s helping her and protecting her.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Yeah I agree it was an affair but yeah he is a crazy stalker with previous for stalking and blackmail – his Swedish ex was reportedly terrified of him and her family were scared of what he’d run to the press with as he was threatening to ruin her father/family. He’s butt hurt that the Firths went public first and he lost his ‘control’ over her/them.
No woman should be subject to this kind of behaviour, period.
I agree. What a bastard, to go out and broadcast details of former intimacies he shared with a woman who is now reconciled with her husband! He sounds seriously unhinged and obviously this behavior has nothing to do with love and EVERYTHING to do with control and humiliation of his former lover. This is classic stalker/abuser stuff!
@ Lahdidahbaby : I worked with social workers at a women’s shelter in the past and Marco’s behaviour is classic stalker-abusive control freak stuff. First he puts her on a pedestal and then when that falters, he tries to destroy her. Neither of these scenarios were based on fact, both were based on Marco’s emotional instability. In his mind, once she stopped being the perfect mirror to reflect his fantasy self-image, she had to be destroyed. He sounds very sick.
Yes, I so agree with you, still_sarah — I volunteer at a shelter for abused women (doing writing-therapy workshops), and there’s pretty much a textbook pattern of abuse that these creeps follow, isn’t there! It begins with that pedestal phase you describe — the passionate devotion — and quickly goes to possessiveness, jealousy, and suspicion, and then comes the control phase, which sometimes includes physical abuse. As you describe so well, the public humiliation of her has absolutely nothing to do with love and everything to do with his ego and its need to control and humiliate her and bring her down if he can’t have her. Ugly stuff!
I knew a guy like this once. He was a writer and had a long, passionate affair with a married woman who had a very unusual job. When the affair ended he wrote a “novel” that was pretty much a blow by blow description of the affair, and he didn’t change her job. She was still in contact with him at the time and asked him to please change at least the job so her husband wouldn’t put two and two together, but he wouldn’t. He said he hoped the husband would see it and kill himself! I know, it sounds crazy, but it is true. He put her on a pedestal and then when it ended it was brutal.
I was actually dating the guy, briefly, and left the country to get away from him when he turned on me.
I agree, no woman should be subjected to stalking and blackmail. Of course no married woman should cheat on her husband.
Livia is not innocent by any means. The only innocent party is Colin Firth. How humiliating this must be for him, and for their children.
Yeah, she invited this man into her marriage and made Colin vulnerable to gossip and his idiocy.
I feel little sympathy for her.
I’d suggest we shouldn’t judge her too quickly or harshly without all the information. It’s entirely possible they had an open relationship. Certainly wouldn’t be unusual in that industry. The fact that he’s fully supporting her may suggest more than just him being a gentlemanly Mr Darcy type.
They share two children, and it’s his celebrity that is making this so public. Seems fair.
I’m still in shock she cheated on him. Colin Firth doesn’t seem like he’d be a secret jerk, and is appears that – given what we know of how he’s handling this thus far – he isn’t a jerk. You truly never know what is going on in a marriage behind closed doors, but COLIN FIRTH? How could she cheat on Colin Firth?
Her cheating is not about Colin; it’s about her.
This exactly. Its about her character not his
Thank you!
Men and women are fallible creatures and the reality of a long marriage is that you can get complacent even with a wonderful husband, which leads to boredom and then doing doing something really stupid that can jeopardize your whole life. I’m sure she has a boatload of regrets now and I feel very sorry for both of them ( Colin and Livia). This Marco character is a real piece of work.
@ ELX I get that humans are flawed but I don’t feel sorry for Livia. She is lucky that Colin seems to be decent because another man might not have been so kind.
Bingo.
Yes, exactly.
The women of the world are looking at Livia Firth right now, shaking their heads in utter disbelief. She had such an uber classy reputation too, and now that’s in tatters. Shows such things are just an illusion.
I agree, and imo if you don’t want something like this to go public, just don’t do it. You have children and a husband who is in the public eye. Peoe don’t think of the consequences their actions carry.
I don’t know if I would completely think differently of someone who had an affair. We don’t know what happened in their lives, what their marriage was like. Yeah, cheating is shitty and it sucks but it wouldn’t make me think the worst of someone because I don’t know anything about their personal lives.
That is what I was thinking! But cheating is rarely about finding somebody better. You can be the best partner ever yet your SO still might turn out to be a lousy cheater. I hope the kids and Firth will find happiness. As for Livia nobody deserves to be stalked. That is all I am gonna say.
Honestly, that’s the thing that makes me believe they really were separated.
Me too.
It takes a lot of time, if you have children probably even more, to figure out a crisis in longterm relationship: a lot of “normal couple” fake the “happy couple” thing for whatever reason, when in reality they don’t share the bedroom anymore. So I don’t see anything strange in them not wanting to share their problems in public at that time.
In an interview with an Italian newspaper Marco confirmed they were separated.
But maybe the story is juicier this way.
I believe they were separated but that said, are we still building up men in our minds based on how they come off in interviews? Really? After everything we have learnt about sweet looking guys in the last year?
I don’t know if Collin is a good guy or a monster or just like all of us, something in between. I don’t know if he is an effective communicator, if he stays plugged into her needs even when he is working or if he is a considerate lover. I don’t even know if he is attracted to women and if so whether he has been faithful to this one woman. I do know that even good guys can be contributors to an unhappy marriage. There’s actually a brand of flawless good guy that just lends to unhappy coupling, I’ll leave that here.
+10000. I love how everyone here is judging her like they know Colin and all the details about their marriage
That is true. I have no idea who he really is. He may be distant or critical or emotionally lazy. Who knows.
Marriage is hard even if two people are lovely and kind and all sorts of positive adjectives. I am never supportive of affairs, but it is up to them to define their marriage and what they can endure.
We could say the same about Ewan McGregor’s wife. We have no clue how their marriage was.
But that doesn’t happen on here. It’s amazing how many women are bending over backwards on here to say we don’t know what she went through in her marriage to cause her to cheat, seemingly placing the blame on Colin or some of it. Well, that goes for the celebrity men as well that have cheated but are instantly ripped apart.
And I am never all that judgmental on affairs and splits compared to many on here, because it happens. I don’t paint the cheater as evil across the board. It’s sad, because someone is hurt. But it happens. I don’t judge people too harshly for affairs. But I do believe if you start an affair you should separate immediately or pretty soon thereafter. That’s the least you can do. Having a year-long affair, or even more for some, behind your husband’s back or wife’s back always bothers me, because you are lying to your spouse for a very long time. The betrayal is even more magnified, where the spouse feels like a fool. I am not capable of doing that to someone for a long period of time, live a double life.
Jayna I never said he was at fault or anyway responsible for “cheating”. He says there was NO cheating and that they were not together during this fling. There’s nothing suspect about that timeline to me and people who are pushing the cheating narrative are really just scandal starved.
What I said was that the other faction who are going around typing things like “who would cheat on Collin Firth, he is so lovely” are deluded. You don’t know who the man is from the outside looking in. That’s not blaming him for a scandal I don’t believe exists but telling women to quit blindly fangirling. Nobody knows what a man or woman is like in a marriage.
Who the hell would cheat on COLIN FIRTH? And he has always spoken so highly of her. I refuse to believe he is secretly a maniac who drove her into someone else’s arms. I don’t even know why he took her back, except he’s a good man and they have kids. Colin, call me!
I totally agree though it would be CALL ME!😺
Go away, dirty skanks! Colin, call MEEE!
He doesn’t have to be a jerk for a marriage to reach a low point. All relationships go through rough periods. She made a very stupid decision to have an affair and is paying a very shitty price for it – as is her husband. Sucks all around, but that’s the risk you run when you mess around.
That’s it in a nutshell.
Marriage is hard and even the best of marriages there is going to be some low points. That being said, the grass is never greener on the other side, it’s greener where you water it. Colin has never come across as a jerk and it speaks volumes to me that he’s sticking by her side during this ugly time. In any interviews he’s talked about her, it’s always been one of pride and love. So my heart goes out to him and the kids. The attention and invasion of privacy during this time is completely unfair and I hope they can heal.
The grass is never greener on the other side. It’s greener where you water it. Hadn’t heard that one. Very true. Thanks.
People often find out the grass is greener on the other side because of “fertilizer” they didn’t see. And I think she stepped in quite a bit of it. The stench isn’t going away.
When a serious boyfriend of mine cheated on me about a year into our relationship everything between us was going great. We lived together happily, we rarely fought, we were very attracted to each other, we had great sex multiple times a week, we had similar interests and friends, I would make his lunches and clean the house…I hadn’t done anything ‘wrong’ to make him cheat on me. Sometimes it just doesn’t matter how great a relationship or partner is. Sometimes, people just cheat because they want something different, or they want their ego stroked, or they want to feel like they are getting away with something, or they want some excitement, or…or…or. There’s so many reasons that have to do with the cheater, not the cheated on. In that boyfriend’s case he was a serial cheater with a low self esteem who mostly did it for the ego boost.
Seeing all these people saying “but Colin Firth, how could she cheat on HIM??” just riles me up because he could be the best husband/partner in the entire world, but if SHE has issues then she’ll cheat anyway.
This.
The press feeds into aiding stalkers et al at times. If this guy was NOT a creep, he’d have declined any publicity and moved on with his life.
@nb – absolutely correct. The same thing happened to me, my BF left me suddenly for someone else despite us having a great relationship. It boiled down to passionate ego-stroking on the other woman’s part. She was all over him – he was the handsomest, the smartest, the sexiest, the greatest lover, etc. etc. She was gorgeous, charismatic, a talented singer and performer. She was also batshit crazy. To give him credit, he stayed with her until their daughter was out of the nest then they divorced, he came looking for me and I took him back. So even the best relationships can be sidelined by the ‘grass is greener’ syndrome. Perhaps things had become stale between Colin and Livia after 20 years, perhaps they’d grown apart, we don’t know what caused the rift or for her to bolt into another man’s arms but Colin seems to be doing the decent thing.
I know people who used to know him when he lived in Vancouver, trying to make it as an actor (and not getting any jobs, which is bizarre). They said he really IS a very, very nice man.
The only person at fault here is the deranged Marco. I feel really bad for the Firths that this has become tabloid fodder. They don’t deserve it and it should have remained a private matter.
Livia’s hands are not clean either.
Not clean, agree. However any personal fault she has is between her and Colin, not the press or the public.
Oh, I don’t think Marco is the only person at fault here.
Come on, though — no woman deserves to be publicly stalked and humiliated this way, and neither does her family deserve it. Nothing justifies this public invasion of her privacy, which is simply a man asserting power over a woman because she left him. Abusive, controlling men almost always go wacko when a woman decides to leave, because they can’t bear to lose control over her. This is classic abuser territory, and no matter how wrong she was to have had the affair, NOTHING gives this asshole the right to do what he is doing.
Lahdidahbaby–I didn’t say she deserved to be stalked and/or humiliated, did I?
Uh, yeah, to say that a stalker is not the only person at fault in this case is saying exactly that. But maybe you didn’t mean it that way.
No, it’s not saying exactly that, at all. Please don’t put words in my mouth.
@minx
Couldn’t agree more with you.
There would be no Marco, if Livia didn’t have an affair with him to begin with.
I have no idea what Colin Firth is like, regardless, Livia should have divorced her husband before starting a relationship with another man.
It’s wrong to cheat, doesn’t matter, if it’s a man or a woman.
She certainly should not be stalked by anybody, nobody deserves that.
No one deserves to be stalked or harassed at all. When someone cheats emotionally or physically they BRING a stranger into innocent people’s lives. Her family were held up as targets to whatever the affair partner wanted to do. This goes for both men and women cheaters. Whomever you decide to cheat with you impose an unknown person on your family members without any of their consent. From possible STD’s down to bunny boiler stalkers. It doesn’t matter what state their marriage was in, the only solution is to divorce or escape, instead of bringing someone secretly into the mix. This is a shame and regardless of her being a victim to his stalking, she also imposed her choices on true innocents in this matter.
If a teen takes the family car out because he thinks his parents are asleep and he’s carjacked you can blame both the teen and the criminal even though no one would say the teen deserved it. Consequence and karma really can be mutually exclusive.
No. Livia, however much she must regret it now, betrayed her husband in a truly terrible way. Not just the fu*king, but all the things she obviously said about Colin to this guy, all the things about their shared personal life that she told this guy. All human beings are fallible and maybe they can find forgiveness and move past the infidelity, but she definitely did something really wrong.
It’s all sexy, sexy until it threatens to destroy your whole life. And yes, that silly ‘quiet separation’ story is a boatload of nonsense.
They say they were separated, thou. And Marco confirmed that to the Italian press. But I see you know a lot more about their story, what she did and what she shared.
Eh, I don’t believe a word out of this guys mouth except for the fact that they had an affair. I wouldn’t put it past him, considering how apparently he stalked/harassed another ex and comes across horribly, to try and make the affair seem even more scandalous by saying it was longer, she said things about Colin to him, etc.
While she’s partially at fault for the affair, no one deserves to be stalked. I think that’s what the OP was commenting on, that it’s not her fault that her side piece became a scary stalker..not that she had no blame in the actual affair. And while cheating sucks, the over the top reaction from the Daily Fail (I half expect the writers to scream that she ought to put on a scarlet letter) is unwarranted.
The DM is OTT and vindictive. They don’t care who they hurt if it sells papers and spreads their regressive messaging.
Mr. Darcy’s wife is a strumpet who is so shameless she carried on a tawdry lusty affair with a deranged psychopath. Burn her at the stake!! Hester Prynne Firth is an Italian hussy!
No one would sign up to be stalked or publicly shamed. Stalking is scarier than the DM is making it out to be. One day if they aren’t stopped they are capable of killing someone.
She shouldn’t have cheated, but this isn’t the price for that at all.
Midigo—what do you think was in that awful email to Colin Firth that Marco admits he sent and was terrible? Intimate revelations—if she said they were separated, as Marco claims, I’m sure there were a lot of personal whys behind that, some true, some bs—the kind that are really wounding. Sadly, that’s self-justifying human nature.
THANK you, Magnoliarose! Jesus, I can’t believe the victim-blaming here. No woman deserves to have a psycho stalker terrorizing and publicly humiliating her even if she did make a bad and unworthy decision. We have NO way of knowing how her life was — or how her marriage was — when she made this error in judgment. Stalking is a form of abuse, and is designed to psychologically terrorize and put fear into the heart of its target. We need to keep the two things separate in the sense that one does not give legitimate rise to the other. Nothing justifies stalking and creating terror in another person’s life. To say (as some have) that “He [the stalker] is not the only one to blame” is the same thing as saying she asked for it. Victim-blaming is always wrong.
I agree in theory, that we shouldn’t know. But as many have said on here, when you cheat, you run the risk of things like this happening, an email or call to the husband or wife, or the Affleck nanny selling stories and photos when dumped.
Now, if he was stalking her, they she will have proof, and at least it will be stopped. I would find it strange they would go this length to have him charged, knowing it could go public, unless his behavior was concerning. It must have been to go to the authorities.
Marco himself said the Firths were separated at the time. Why would he say that if it weren’t the case? In which case, Livia did not cheat so therefore shouldn’t have to shoulder any blame for this really unfortunate and unnecessary tabloid mess. The Firths’ private life is nobody’s business and were it not for this Marco guy refusing to accept Livia had gone back to her husband, we would and should be none the wiser about this wholly private matter.
Eh. I’m putting this on her just as I would if the roles were reversed. It takes 2 to have an affair, but only one of them was married at the time. If he’s stalking her, which I believe is true because the Firths have made this public, then he should be prosecuted. I bet Colin leaves her after this is all sorted out. He must be completely humiliated.
Colin himself says they were separated. Unless you know something about their marriage that they don’t, the only story here should be the stalking.
I agree this Marco is a psycho but disagree with the part about Collin just being a gentleman. I firmly believe this is a relationship where taking a lover wouldnt be an issue. Marco was an idiot to think it would break them up. They went public because Marco is a loon and his tongue would destroy the facade, thats all. They calculated that this was the better scandal to dodge,
I feel sorry for the Firths. I live in the UK and the tabloids are having a field day. :/
Right? Like this wasn’t painful enough without the entire world watching and commenting. Every marriage has issues and sometimes super hard ones like this. I am so glad I (and my hubs) are NOT famous.
I don’t believe him that they filed for protection to “get ahead of” the story. It happened years ago and nobody ever found out, WHY would they out themselves and open themselves up to malicious gossip unless they truly felt endangered?
Exactly why I believe them. They had to know her affair would be an instant tabloid headline, so why go public with it by asking for a restraining order unless that was their absolute last resort?
Evidently they filed a report over a year ago when he sent pics and all to cf..they did not go public until someone found it in some filed papers, and they had to comment.I’m sorry, but someone is going to have to explain stalking to me..if sending the hubby news about his cheating wife is so horribly frightening..whaa? Where’s the threat? Telling about the affair is douche-y, but not a crime. What grown woman leaves a paper/photo trail not realizing it will all come back? It’s interesting that during this supposed break..and no one believes that..they were photographed often, but at premieres this year, she’s a no-show. I feel bad for c.f. that he feels he must cover for his her, but no one else in this.
MARCO claims all that happened was one email. I’m saying I don’t believe him, and I think the Firths were being stalked and harrassed.
if Colin or Livia asked him to stop contacting them, any contact after that could be considered stalking and harassment. it’s oretty simple – someone asks you to stop contacting them, you stop. period.
So she moved on.
It happens.
Now he has determined that if he can’t have her, nobody else should, least of all her husband. He gets no sympathy from me. He is a stalker and potentially dangerous.
I notice there’s no comment from Marco as to why he sent that cruel email to Colin. Get a grip you lunatic!
How does the man you are having an affair with, even get your husbands email address? I imagine legitimately famous people keep their true email address until tight lock and key, strictly and only for those who need to know. So how? Did this guy snoop her computer, her phone?
He was a family friend of hers and had socialized with them as a couple over the years.
If he had socialised with Collin enough to have his email address and he still sent him the details of the affair as claimed (and photos as hinted), then this Marco is truly a monster.
I can see an ex lover giving the husband a heads up but sending so much detail that a public couple feel compelled to involve police and risk public exposure is insane. And to do that to a man you actually know well is double insanity.
That’s what thwarted people do. You see it all the time with regular people. For revenge on the person who rejected them or to force a rapture between the ex and their innocent, unaware partner.
And if it is a stalking situation, the likelihood of the stalker contacting your family and friends is very high because they want to force a reaction from you even if it’s a negative one.
@ MELA: I’d like to point something out that maybe you can’t see due to being in the middle of this situation.
– telling the wife or girlfriend (or husband) after an affair has ended is a tacit admission that they (or their ego) regarded the affair as a sort of competition. They “lost” and went the “nuclear option” because they now have zero influence over the love interest. They are attempting to fight a “rearguard” action because they know they have already lost.
– sending messages, photos etc is an attempt at re-inserting themselves into the relationship.
– he can’t take back what he said. It’s entirely possible he was in a lust haze and re-reading those 6 months later would have him wondering “WTF was I thinking”. Men are idiots in that state.
– she’s attempting to redefine the “battlefield” on her terms. That can only happen if you allow that. Don’t engage. She’s now irrelevant to what happens from hereon in, and she knows it.
– she can’t continue to be relevant unless you allow her to re-insert herself. You don’t want to do that. In fact, if your boyfriend has any naked photos she sent (and I’m sure she probably did and maybe still does), send one of those back to her YOURSELF with a “You’re very photogenic” remark. She’ll understand right there that you and your boyfriend are a “unit” together. Better yet, send several. She’ll get that you stand as a team, he’s not hiding things from you that she thinks she can exploit.
– You should both change your FB settings to not being able to be tagged. Don’t post things until after the fact yourselves. Restrict who can see what you post. Tell your friends not to post pictures of you on social media either. Turn off the location function on all of your social media. And both of you should probably run a good anti-virus/malware/trojan scan on your phones.
@Mela
I still have bad days. My husband never once blamed me and always listens when I need to vent. We had a solid marriage for 9 years and were best friends. I won’t go into details but he was struggling personally and professionally and felt increasingly isolated from me and our kids. I tried to make sense of it, but it was completely irrational to add so much stress on top of an already stressful situation. It felt good for him at the time. He was not the person I know when he was cheating. When I confronted him and he admitted it, he sounded like he was on drugs and in a fog. He promised to end all communication with the other woman (luckily not a friend of ours) and do whatever it took to make it up to me. I had to decide that our family, marriage and even he was worth trying to fix what he broke. He did a bad thing but he’s not a bad person and though I’m guarded and skeptical at times, I do still love him and I love the life we’ve made together. He knows that any other indiscretion will be the catastrophic end of everything. We went to therapy and saved our marriage. And at least for now, we’re in a really good place. If I’m wrong, so be it.
That’s what shocked me the most. Can you imagine the pain of reading a detailed description of the many ways your partner has cheated on you?
it is so painful. 🙁
my boyfriend cheated on me and i confronted the woman to let her know that I know she cheated with my boyfriend for a brief two months last year (she is unfortunately a mutual aquantince). i have since tentatively decided to try to heal with my boyfriend.
Stalkers have impeccable timing. she has since emailed me screenshots every single message between them (heartbreaking) while my boyfriend and I are were on a vacation trying to heal our relationship from the cheating revelations.
Stalkers are persistent. She has continued to show up at my boyfriends work events on a weekly basis ever since. My BF told her (with full transparency to me, i saw his messages) that it was a mistake he regrets and he wants to work things out with me and to please stop showing up at his work but she is persistent in showing up to his work events (where I am present). We have been tagged on social media and she has shown up an hour later, and will park right next to me. People like her and Marco are broken people who want to hurt others.
I feel it is a way for her and stalkers as well to intimidate and make those involved uncomfortable because they ultimately were rejected in the end.
The pain from cheating is multiplied when it is SHOWN to you through emails and photos, when the third party is persistent in inflicting pain and is haunting your relationship as you try to heal. Its one thing to know they cheated but to see proof of it from the other person themselves is so painful.
Colin doesn’t deserve this and I commend him for trying to work things out but it may not work it out. Livia is a pig and needs to do some serious soul searching. She may just be a bad person who hurts people or maybe she is honestly regretting the affair.
There will definitely be some serious anger and resent from him for a long time I’m sure.
I lived it. My husband had an affair, admitted it and when he cut off communication she sent me screenshots of their conversations to what? Hurt me to or push me to leave him so she could have him. It was very painful but we worked through it and are as ok as we can be following the betrayal.
@sayrah
how long did it take for you to get past it?
ii still get moments where i want to throw it in his face. i know i can’t keep doing that but i boil over still with ager sometimes..i can’t get those screenshots and the words he wrote to her out of my head
i believe that he actually is a stalker and that he’s scared her because… why else would they have gone public about something that happened two years ago?? no-one knew, and so for her to open herself up to the scrutiny and abuse she must have known she’d get, livia must have been genuinely scared. I’m disappointed to here she was unfaithful (not that its any of my business) but she doesn’t deserve this…
the guy threatened his ex lover. She then flew out the country with their kid thanks to her dad. (I read that she died recently). Knowing this while would she still think to have a relationship with him? He acts like the jilted lover that was promised eternal flame, the lover that maybe was there when she needed a shoulder to cry on, the lover who loved her the first time they met but she wasn’t into him. I still don’t understand how she thought it was ok to confide in him about Colin, the father of her husband, regardless if she was blindly in love. She knows how someone can turn against you and sell your story in a nano second. That’s was a stupid move. It must have break havoc and his ego when she did choose Colin over him 20 years ago then again 2 years ago. Me think she and Colin had to act fast when he threatened to go public so they can portray him as a guy who hasn’t moved on (he didn’t) and lessen the destruction of their proper cool-nothing-to-see-here-we’re-awesome-lovey-dovey-couple. The ex is a lunatic and should be prosecuted for the blackmailing and harassment. He’s cookoo, the type of cookoo that will show up at your door or any places his victim will be. As for the Firth, working so hard to be left out the tabloids an then this must be downright awful.
I believe him when he says he thought they would divorce and that the affair was serious. I think she decided to end it and work on her marriage.
If they had an open marriage, I don’t think it would have been open to a full blown affair involving emotional attachments for that long. I think there was a betrayal here but that the Firths decided they could save their marriage for reasons only they know.
Marco is obviously unbalanced and vengeful, but I don’t know the extent of his harassment since they haven’t said. There had to be something that made them go to the police.
I wonder why this is all coming out now.
He’s a journo and he’s likely been threatening to go public for sometime. But yeah something went down that made them go to the police and go public with the story – considering he was violent toward his ex, he may have made threats to the family’s safety.
Apparently he’s been violent towards multiple women…I’m wondering if they were paying him off and then something happened that made them worry that he would hurt her physically.
We don’t really know for sure that he is violent toward women. We know he had a messy custody battle, but I would never judge anyone for fighting for their child. We do know that she got special treatment because of her father. I’m not saying he isn’t violent, but we have no proof, only hearsay.
It’s always fascinating to see gender roles flipped in this way…we’re so used to seeing this happen the other way around. I’m not totally sure how they come back from this as a couple though.
I find the gender roles fascinating too. After I get past the horror of what this stalker has been doing to the Firth family, I find myself intrigued over the role reversals. I wonder how people would feel if Colin was the one who engaged in an affair and his lover was now stalking him? I can only speak for myself in saying that I would be calling for his head with no sympathy for him. Yet with Livia, though she isn’t innocent, I have sympathy for what she is going through.
I am not sure why we are still disbelieving the ‘break’ story when even the psycho admits that they were quietly apart in his interviews.
I am also of the mind, as others above, that this man is truly unhinged because this story was dead and gone, marriage moving forward etc. and now this. No reason to have put it out there for public consumption unless there was a real threat. Unless of course this guy needs cash and brought it back out of the woodwork.
I haven’t seen him admitting that. I read where he said she told him she wanted to divorce Colin, not that she was separated. Maybe I missed something. Many cheating spouses tell their lovers they are unhappy and want a divorce, but never separate nor divorce.
Flip the genders and you have the cliche man forever promising a mistress that his wife doesn’t understand him and he is going to leave wife for mistress, but never does.
This Marco dude might very well have believed the Firths were on a break. I mean, if a woman is having an affair, it’s not out of the question to purposefully tell her lover her marriage is on the rocks. Now whether or not that’s true, it’s something that only the Firths and their close friends and family would know.
But this man was a family friend. How would he not know they were having marital problems?
That rather depends on just how close of a family friend he was, in my opinion. CF must be frequently away for work. I don’t think it’s out of the question for Livia to have faked a separation to appease her lover if she wanted to. Also, most family friends are actually closer to one half of the couple than the other. That’s probably the case here as well, in that Marco was closer to Livia, and any knowledge of her marriage with Colin came from her.
Yes, Livia made wrong choices rhat affected her marriage. But this dude is a stalker and those people are usually abusers. Screw him.
What a train wreck. Livia totally screwed up, but good Lord, how humiliating to have the details of your mistake broadcast for the world to see. And I have such compassion for Colin Firth to have received such a mean-spirited email designed to cause as much pain as possible – and to have handled it with so much grace.
I don’t think they had an open marriage – it sounds like she cheated, repented and they did the hard work to repair their marriage. I respect them both for their willingness to fix the underlying problems if that is indeed the case.
Whatever happened behind closed doors in their marriage, I feel sad for their children. I can’t imagine what they must be reading/hearing in the press.
I know, the poor kids, how terrible for them. I do admire the way Colin is handling this, presenting a united front with his wife.
Why is everyone saying “how could you cheat on Firth”? None of us personally or intimately know him, and maybe his wife wanted a little sexual variety.
Absolutely. And long-term relationships are complex and ever-changing. We have no idea what the reality of their day to day relationship was like prior to all this and I see no reason to assume one was more at fault than the other for their separation.
I detailed in a comment below I’m totally worried about stalking behavior. Its a crime in a few countries and it really is a serious issue that needs more analysis. I really feel weird that commenters here equate Livia’s possible cheating (fyi I wouldn’t believe everything this guy is saying if his first wife and family had accused him of abusive behavior) by saying she deserved some blame because of that cheating. That’s blaming a possible victim.
Why is no one asking “why did they separate, and under who’s impetuous”? He’s sticking up for her/ standing by her. But for all we know, maybe they separated because he had something else going on and when that didn’t work out, decided to “work on their marriage” and asked her to come back. And if that’s the case, she’s actually taking the heat so no one will ask those questions.
Both sides have said they were separated. Yet the affair started in the Firth’s home. He was away filming. She was still living in their home. Does that not sound a bit to anyone else like he left his wife?
@Felicia, because most people don’t believe in this “separation story”.
Well if even psycho stalker-boy has confirmed the separation, it seems a little odd to not believe it. Someone like that probably isn’t terribly disposed to confirming what are extenuating circumstances if he’s got revenge/ego as a goal.
If they were married for 20 years it wasn’t “his” home, it was “their” home. Not to mention, they have multiple properties over the world. We don’t know what their arrangement was.
this is what I will agree with lols
By all accounts, from personal to professional and in between, he really IS a nice, good natured, man… and in a sea of… well we just found out what Hollywood is really like, that’s kinda cool
Collin is great, fine. Great people get cheated on too; great people have rough patches in their marriage too; great people have spouses who rekindle love affairs with exes too; great people forgive too.
Just because L cheated does not mean we question Collin (and I think folks are doing this primarily because he’s famous after recent outings).
But L, she may have just been looking for something human too.
But Collin is saying they were separated. And in an issue that will likely require him to go under oath to testify. Are you saying this “very nice guy” is lying to the world including the police and is doing so knowing that he will likely have to commit perjury? And for what, when the more convinient lie would be that he is separated from her and therefore none of this concerns him?
I get that. They had a passionate affair. My dad had too. And then he ended up with two kids he kept secret from us (yes, my life does resemble a telenovella). In the end we fou d out because he kept fightig with her and did not left his wife (my mom) for 8 years despite promises and actualy havig a family of sorts together. We found out only because the other woman snaped because all the infulfilled promises of my dad. She kept stalking him, following him to work and coming to my parents house, calling my mom, etc. My point – Livia does not get any sympathy points from me, due to stupidity of those who decide to have an affair on the side can not comprehend the damage their secret love affairs have on the rest of their families for the rest of their lives. Yes, this guy is a stalker, but usually this kind of stalking is fueld by whatever the cheating partner gives them or promises them. My deepest respect to Colin though, for sticking up for his wife anyway and trying to save her face nad reputation now.
I do not think it is appropriate to blame Livia for this guy making criminal threats to her and harassing her. Many many many people have affairs with married women, but most of them do not end up engaging in criminal behavior when the affairs end. She is married to a millionaire movie star and has two kids with him, this journalist was deluding himself to think she would ever leave the husband.
Did I ever say that I blame her for the criminal behavior of this guy, or somehow justify it by the cheating? No. If he is stalking her and there is criminal activity, then he does have to be handeled accordingly. What I am saying that what he says about being so in love and believing that Livia would leave Colin for him may be his version of truth because those are the false promises the chating spause makes to a secret lover. He clearly sent that email to Colin because he felt wronged by Livia. He does seem crazy, but that obsession often is fueled by whatever their lover says to them. Just like cheating does not excuse the stalking, the chating part reamins even without stalking.
@SM
You said: “Yes, this guy is a stalker, but usually this kind of stalking is fueld by whatever the cheating partner gives them or promises them.”
That absolutely sounds like you’re blaming her! Yes he stalked her, but only because of what SHE did? That’s not fair, you don’t know them.
She’s responsible for the adultery, but I wouldn’t say her situation is particularly similar to your father’s. Two illegitimate children, a secret family situation, and an eight year affair is an entirely different kettle of fish than a two year affair that she personally ended and walked away from.
What adultery? I’m stumped over people running with the infidelity narrative with such assurance when all three concerned parties are saying this couple was not even living together and that divorce was on the tables. You must have impeccable sources to know so much.
Knowing all this makes me believe she doesn’t deserve Colin and he’s far to good for her. Hopefully she doesn’t make the same mistake in the future or at least is smarter about it…cheaters never learn!
This is really sad and scary for the kids. That Brancaccia sounds like a total stalker douchbag. If one ex of his (or more? ) has accused him of being abusive, I imagine he has a dark side that erupts if he has been thwarted, stressed or just because thinks is appropriate. Seems like pattern behaviour and I hope there is not escalation as he’s older and now has an even bigger platform.
Sometimes abusive guys work at a devoted, engaged pursuit with initial heavy interest (unlike a less than attentive spouse) and this seem a welcome change with real concern and attention to a partner’s needs. But when they don’t get their way, and worse when the woman leaves, that’s when that same devoted intent and controlling nature becomes obvious with a much darker intent.
Who knows what happens in marriages with celebrities? Long separations and ego driven industries are hard on relationships for anyone.
Whether the Firth/Giuggioli marriage was on a break or there was cheating involved, I don’t really care! Divorce or stay together… but the most important issue now, in my opinion, is if there is any stalking than that is actually far more dangerous behaviour than general society realises and they should do everything to keep all parties safe.
It sounds like they went to the authorities last year right after the ending date of the stalking is stated. I don’t know why it’s coming out now. Maybe the thought it wouldn’t come out.
Leaked court documents is why.
I believe the separation story because they are in the middle of a legal case and it would be too easy to disprove/discover otherwise. Both sides have an interest in being as honest as possible about everything surrounding whether or not the ex-lover became a stalker.
Livia’s an idiot. When you cheat you put everything at risk. No one deserves to be stalked but sometimes unforeseen consequences occur. It’s the risk you take.
Marco is a crazy, dangerously obsessed loon.
Colin better have his PR game on point. Good husband or not, open marriage or not, this is humiliating for both
Feel for the kids.
I guess the part I don’t get- this guy is a long time family “friend”( some friend!!), and yet Livia doesn’t know/hasn’t heard about the horrid situation with his daughter and the daughter’s mother? Hard time imaging she didn’t at least have an inkling. And knowing this, still has an affair with this guy? And travels all over the world to do it? Wouldn’t surprise me if another “quiet separation” is in the works.
Yes, i find that puzzling. That she’s known him supposedly so well for so long yet had no clue of his violent past?
Maybe she only knew what he told her but i still find it odd that she wouldn’t have some sense to be cautious and avoid romantic entanglements with him.
Besides, he’s a journalist. Last person to have an affair with when you/your spouse is a public person.
The fact that Meg Tilly and Colin have a grown son?!?! I DID NOT EVEN KNOW THEY WERE TOGETHER BACK IN THE DAY!!!! The rest of this…is just a complete and utter unfortunate, mess!
Watch Valmont if you can find it- Colin Firth, Annette Benning and Meg Tilly-great movie that unfortunately got overshadowed by the Michelle Pffier/Glenn Close version of Dangerous Liasions. If memory serves, that’s where their relationship started.
I saw “Valmont” its opening weekend…being such a “Dangerous Liaison” fiend at the time…and immediately wanting to compare the two….and I’ve always had a yen for Meg…such a fascinating person period…but I never knew they got together off screen….she took keeping her private life…private to magnificent levels!
Livia really screwed up big time. Very humiliating for Colin. I don’t buy the separation story. I don’t think after this mess their marriage could actually survive.
Why wouldn’t it? He found out about the affair in 2016. It’s at the least a year and a half or more later. They worked past it. That stalking stopped in 2017 sometime. If they were going to break up, it seems like it would have already happened.
I do feel sorry for Colin. It’s hard to look at your spouse and realize for a year she lied to you. But if he can live with her being unfaithful with someone he also new and had in their home, it’s their business.
It wouldn’t because before they worked past it in private. Nobody knew about it, nobody knew about affair or that they worked on it. To outside world everything seemed fine. They tried to save their “perfect marriage” image. But now the cat is out of the bag. The brand is publically hurt and the image of marriage is shattered. Firth now is a cuckold, she is a cheater. The media is having a field day. And I think that their marriage can’t survive. Living with her being unfaithful is one thing, when you do it in private, but living with somebody being unfaithful to you when the whole world knows about it is completely different.
The whole world only knows that a separated woman started seeing an old friend who turned out to be a creep. Some will of course extrapolate and try to create a juicy scandal but they will quickly move on to the next Hollywood/political scandal for entertainment. Their marriage will survive just fine and this will be a footnote in gossip mags soon enough.
Age gives you perspective over these brouhahas.
@Krill, nope, the whole world knows now that “Mr. Darcy” has been cheated on, pretty much nobody (with several execptions) buys story about separation. Lots of jokes about Firth and lots of sympathy for him.
I agree with you. And it’s actually sad the outcome would have been different if the roles were reversed.
If a woman takes back a cheater, she’s a saint. If a man does it, well…
Nah I think if a woman takes back a cheater she is seen as doing the “right thing” for the family, it is expected of her to just forgive and move on, do better to keep her man happy at home, but she will also be seen as either a doormat or in it for the money, see the articles and comments on Colleen Rooney for that one.
Or some will think she is stupid and weak.
The judgments might also come down to the gender doing the judging and the economics of the partnership.
I do think a woman as a stalker is treated differently. Who would interview a woman accused of stalking? Who would give her a voice? I can’t see the DM doing that or anyone else in a case like this.
Magnoliarose: if the DM is your only contact with uk tabloid culture, then you are in for a shock because the DM is actually pretty nice when it comes to this type of scandal. The other tabloids are worse.
You guys don’t have a kiss and tell tabloid culture which means the DM must be so shocking to you when it reports these types of things. Our tabloids are full of bragging mistresses, one off jump offs, heck Wayne Rooney’s latest dalliance even got a spot on tv and as far as one can tell all he did was drive her home and possibly tried to kiss her unsuccessfully.
I suspect the only reasons we don’t have the full sexy details of this particular affair is because it’s going through a legal situation that’s put a lid on it or the DM has an exclusive.
@LAK
You are right. I have only seen the DM. The others are too inside with celebrities I have never heard of like footballers or TV presenters. And even with the DM, I am not a regular.
Good to know though.
I suppose more will follow since people seem to be interested.
What I’m getting out of this is that perhaps the separation was at his behest for whatever reason he had. Embarking on an affair with an old friend after you and your husband have separated sounds to me like looking for comfort with a poorly chosen rebound guy. Confiding in that guy sounds to me like needing to work through the hurt. And going back to “work on your marriage” sounds to me like your husband didn’t want the separation anymore for whatever that reason might have been.
I really kind of hate to be asking myself this, but did they separate because he was having an affair that fizzled out? Why did they separate in the first place?
Woow. Am amaze by the comments and the support the wife is receiving. No one deserved 2 be stalked or scared of anyone. If Dude was a family friend n has a habit of doing this am sure she must have knw about his behaviour. If it was the other way round we will be calling colin a jerk n all sorts and will make the other woman a instant celebrity. Giving her interviews n turn it into something else.
(giggles) yup. this board would read totally different; with justifications of the stalker, questioning what collin had told her, excusing her agency etc.
Bingo.
This is exactly what I was thinking. If Colin would have been the one cheating, people would call him all kinds of names, suspect he forces his wife to go along with the separation angle of this story and maybe even accusing him of painting his ex affair as a stalker so no-one believes her aka trying to make her look crazy.
Yep.
I have no idea what was really going on with the Firths. However, the length of the affair, and all the arrangements and travel that were involved….I have to say Livia doesn’t come across well. Sounds like she was trying to have her cake and eat it too. If it were Colin doing this, few would be understanding.
Yeah, I was saying the same thing the other day.
Livia is the arsehole here, and I rarely buy the old ‘fatal attraction ‘ argument – sounds like she told him they were separated, as far as he was concerned they were in a RELATIONSHIP for over a year. Then she get back with the husband, ghosts and then turns on the lover to store up defence of the marriage by claiming ‘stalking’.
They were separated and whose to say Colin didn’t date during that time. Its humiliating that this guy is talking to the press and playing the scorned lover.
Maybe he thought he could blackmail them? And they called his bluff? Or they took it to the press before he did?
They may have discussed the rules of their seperation and dating was ok.
They got back together and sorted out through their issues.
Colin is the one of those rare men who knows how to wear and walk in a suit.
Judging by the things Colin Firth said to this guy in his email, they were not separated.
THIS. his reaction to this man tells me they were not separated (99%), and given the odd (1%) chance that they were separated, it was not by collin’s choosing. this gives me all sorts of feels.
Colin’s email to this guy really upset me. I’m not sure i’d have had any pity for him. Though perhaps pity is a type of revenge coz the guy was expecting explosive rage and instead got pity and a court case.
I can’t find the email but I believe you. I don’t blame them for saying this. It might have been a rough time and they felt estranged or they have moved on and don’t want her to be cast in a certain light because of their children.
He’s going to divorce her, he looks like a fool here. I would say the same if it were Julia Roberts. Just not good for the brand.
Whether he decides to divorce her or not is his business. However, I don’t think he looks like a fool. He’s chosen to act in a mature rational manner, and while I don’t know him this is the way you’re supposed to act in a situation like this. You don’t speak against the mother of your children at any time, especially not in the press. This is a horrific time for all of them, and I can’t imagine this is easy for him. Fool no, mature gentleman looking after his family-yes.
Then why wasn’t Jennifer Garner praised for her “cool, rational manner” in her handling of Ben’s affair with the press hungry nanny? And they were estranged when it happened. They were just waiting to tell the kids when school was out.
Jen was called out right and left for they way she handled it, which to me seems very mature as far as protecting her children and Ben being the father of her children.
Why do people keep assuming that Colin Firth has a “brand”?? He’s not Beyoncé, FFS. They decided to work it out, end of. Marriage is not black and white and we should respect their choices.
I think if you read the comments on all of these articles, and you see so many echoing the same disbelief that any woman would cheat on Mr. Darcy…you will understand that indeed, he’s a brand.
I feel very sorry for their children, two teenage boys having to see this stuff in the media.
I am also impressed by how Colin (or his team/pr/whoever) is handling this by publicly supporting and standing by Livia. I think in the end they will divorce though, I don’t know how anyone can come back from this level of hurt, and so public too.
As for Marco I am cautious about believing anything he has to say, first off it is he take of the marriage that he put himself into the middle of, and secondly he may only be repeating what he was told by a woman he was cheating with. Is she really going to tell him how wonderful and caring her husband is as she is cheating on him, or will she paint the worse possible image of him to relieve herself of the guilt/blame of being with another man.
I feel sorry for their children, but even sorrier for the children in the Spelling marriage. That really tore at my heart this morning. What is wrong with people, really.
I know. Those poor children in that Spelling disaster.
He didn’t stalk her, that was just her trying to save face in the beginning.
New information reveals that from Colin himself.
yeah it really pisses me off when married people get back together and turn on a person outside the marriage to demonise, it happened to my best friend ( the guy really was separated then 18 months later went back to the wife) it totally broke her.
And they had the nerve to try and make her look bad.
I just don’t understand what this Marco person thinks he’s going to get out of all of this. If he wanted out of the harassment and stalking charges then he could have quietly negotiated with the Firths. If he wanted money then you need to keep most of the most lurid details back, which he’s not really doing. If he wanted publicity then this is really, really the wrong kind because I can’t think of anyone who would be sympathetic to his role in all of this. And if he wanted Livia back then at this point he’s just delusional.
Just, why is he doing this? Is he just indulging in his little tantrum fit? Is he just doing all of this to hurt the Firths?
He wants to humiliate her and Colin.
As others have noted. He speaks of love but his ections are nothing about love but control and power. He probably saw Livia as some way of competing with Firth. Livia was probably nothing but a tool for his obsessions. Once she fled he can only exert what power he has left by going public and exposing every lurid detail of their affair. That’s what he wants, their public humiliation.
That’s just so sad and so completely terrible.
I think there is more to the story here and Firth’s wife may not be as innocent as she claims. She played with fire and got burned. When you engage in this kind of gutter behavior, bad things happen. When you lay down with dogs, you wake up with fleas.
She made promises to Marco as well and had an illicit affair…When she decided to pull out the rug under Marco, it blew up in her face because he is vindictive and went scorched earth. Who hasn’t broke up with someone and sent a F YOU text message – either he is minimizing his level of communication or Livia is trying to save face here.
How many times have we heard of a married person having an affair and it being revealed when one the other affair partner goes to the married person’s spouse and reveals the affair. She was naive to think she was going to walk away with out any drama – she is lucky her husband forgave her. The only victim in this his Colin Firth in my eyes. He never deserved the mess she brought to his life.
+1000! Exactly what I was thinking!
she just sounds like a steaming pile of trash
Yeah, and I don’t think Marco going to the husband and revealing the affair is stalking – I think thats called Karma, sorry Livia! Reap what you sow. what happens in the dark always comes to light!
She screwed these men over left and right and it was bound to catch up to her. Marco is her karma. Karma wasn’t going to let her get away with this unscathed. she’s naive to think her affair partner would take this secret to the grave for HER so she could go back to her marriage. idiot. why in the world does she think he would quietly go away? she sounds like a piece of work. why do all these men want her cheating mess self
Amen. I adore Colin and feel for him.
Nothing will make you appreciate your longtime partner like a crazy stalker sidepiece. Colin Firth is all class for taking her back with open arms and supporting her through this. But who would expect anything less from Mr. Darcy 😉
IKR?! If anything, I respect and admire Colin Firth more than ever now.
Colin Firth does seem to be handling this like a gentleman, maybe even a saint. I have tears in my eyes imagining his character from “Bridget Jones’s Diary” having to face such a vulgar reality. Of course, the secret truth could be that he drove her to it. Men can be quite disarming in public.
why are we so easy to blame him for her actions? he drove her to it? really? by all accounts, he is a gentleman, through and through, and, by his reaction to this journalist’s revelations, they were not separated. he gets cheated on, publicly humiliated, and what we come up with is: he drove her to it? can we stop giving women zero agency? she had an affair. it was her choice to stay married and take on a lover (something collin clearly did not agree with given his reaction). she’s a putz. a woman can be a willing, able, agented putz too.
if garner did not drive affleck to drink and cheat and be an ass, collin most definitely did not drive livia, who by all accounts is an assertive person, to do anything.
“Of course, the secret truth could be that he drove her to it.”
Ugh, can we please remember that some women can cheat at their own whim, desire and no, it’s not automatically their partner’s fault. We want to sanitize women so much that we’d like to pretend that they can never cheat willingly on their own, that they can never lie, manipulate, cause harm, etc.
Great post.
Run, Colin, run! Right to me of course…
What a mess! I think it’s the usual case of the truth being somewhere in between.
Can’t even imagine the regret, fear, and shame she must be feeling right now–I feel sorry for the whole family, teen sons very much included. The guy sounds mentally unstable and possibly dangerous. And she had Colin Firth at home. SMH.
If they separated and then she had an affair, that’s on him as much as her. Second, nothing to make a man appreciate his wife then thinking he lost her. In this context it’s easy to see that they could have gotten back together when the ‘other man’ then freaked out. He really crossed the line because if you love someone and they are married the best thing in some cases ( mine) is to let them go even if it kills you, because breaking up a family was something I couldn’t live with. You don’t write letters to their spouse, you protect them. What a creepy guy.
I do believe her that he was harassing/ stalking her, or doing SOMETHING to scare her, because she had nothing to gain by falsely accusing him, and, indeed, a LOT to lose, as the public fallout to this, and damage to her reputation, has shown. She had to have known, in accusing him, that this could end up happening, and NOBODY takes something like that on lightly.
I DON’T believe the Firths were separated when this relationship/affair/whatever was taking place. They were just photographed out and about together and at events too often during the time this separation was supposedly happening for me to believe that.
You play with fire you get burned. I feel sorry for Colin Firth.
This. ^^^^
This is a terrible story all around, especially as CF has always struck me as someone with the gentlest, thinnest skin – a person who would startle at sudden movements. I remember reading about how he retreated from the public eye in a Canadian cottage with Meg Tilly (?) and it seemed really touching to me, not Leo-in-the-Revenant-annoying. I feel for Livia too, regardless of whatever may or may not have happened cheating-wise.
But even though I find him tremendously attractive, I have always been convinced that CF is gay, or at least solidly along the Kinsey scale, which is perhaps not gossip to bring to this particularly tragic table. A close family friend knew him pre-fame, though I know these kinds of claims make up the white noise of the Internet hah.
I’m wondering why everyone is so skeptical of the separation? Couples can appear publicly united during times of separation so pictures donmt prove anything.
I’m not sure about everyone else, but even yesterday when I first heard about this situation the whole separation part just seemed too convenient for me. It’s like those movies/TV shows where the female star’s clothing is all damaged and ripped up, but somehow there’s never any inconvenient body part showing and it never actually impedes her movement in any way. It’s just a little too perfect that they would have been separated precisely around the time she had this other relationship but no one else knew about it, but now that the allegations come to light they are of course already reconciled and everything is fine.
I don’t know, maybe I’m just being cynical.
Appearing publicly together while separated seems so odd to me. That’s one major reason I’m questioning the separation story. If it were me, the last thing I would want to do is pose at publicity events as a loved-up couple if I thought my marriage might be over. Did they really need to go through the motions and appear in public together as if nothing were wrong? Colin routinely appears on red carpets and other events solo, would anyone have noticed if Livia was a no-show at more events than usual?
I’m not sure what to think of the possible separation. The lover claims she told him she wanted to divorce Colin, but that’s not necessarily the same thing. Though the fact that she was flying all over the world to meet her lover for trysts does lend credence to a separation. Since we don’t know what the state of the Firths’ marriage was at that time, I think we should give her the benefit of the doubt concerning the extra-marital relationship. I’m curious to know more about the alleged stalking and harassment. I don’t doubt it, it’s just that no details have been given. What a sad mess.
Apparently, there is an email of Colin’s to Marco that lends credence to the not separated. However, in my view, it can still mean the marriage was on thin ice.
There was a point in my marriage that if my husband cheated he may have been justified. I am not saying I would have forgiven him, but I was shutting him out and rejecting him because I wanted to split. He could do no right in my eyes at that time. It was not my finest hour.
Maybe Colin feels it was a similar time for them, so it was easier to forgive. So not technically separated but probably emotionally estranged.
I don’t think I could forgive, but I don’t shame others that can. They have their reasons. Truthfully until I am confronted with it, I can’t say 100 percent what I would do.
Flip genders and it’s a tale as old as time ie cheating man tells his mistress that he is either separated from his wife or they don’t share beds and or they are on about to divorce. They usually also throw in wife not understanding them and or a total B to them etc. They might even indulge in a spot of ‘when the divorce comes through we can do xyz coz we shall finally be together. Fast forward several years later and that divorce still hasn’t come through because of seemingly plausible reasons or oops the wife is pregnant (as if it was an immaculate conception that somehow used his sperm without his knowledge or presence).
The man can be so persuasive and convincing that the woman holds on for years. When the truth finally dawns, it’s the innocent wife that gets punished either because she’s been reframed as the obstacle in the way of the mistress’s happiness. The man might be punished, but not nearly as much as the innocent wife.
@LAK, excellent point.
Sure, absolutely. Unless they were, in fact, separated. That’s what I’m trying to figure out. I also am not clear on the way in which her lover was stalking/harassing her, or threatening to blackmail her/them. Not enough details.
They are together while they get through this. Then I hope he divorces her. Life is too short to try to “get past” this sort of thing with a cheating partner. When could he ever be sure of her again?
When I read the story, my impression was that she cheated with this guy to control her husband. It’s a ploy right out of the seduction handbook. Cheating isn’t a dealbreaker for a lot of men. If anything, they’ll work harder to win a woman’s affections if they feel other men want her. Familiarity and closeness kill the detachment necessary for romance. Creating a love triangle worked to ignite her husband’s aggressive and competitive impulses. She didn’t sleep with a stranger. She chose a childhood friend because she didn’t want the affair to become public. She trusted that man to keep the affair between three of them. The revelation is humiliating to say the least, but I think it was a carefully thought out plan that had unfortunate blowback.
This story just suuuuuuuuuucks. I’ve always liked Colin Firth, he seems like a damn decent guy. I remember seeing a clip of him describing the first time he saw her from across a room or something and how he immediately felt certain that she was the one for him, all of this. Just seems like a total gentleman and a romantic one at that. I know that nobody but those in a couple ever know all of what goes on between them, but all the same, damn, Livia, I feel like you just really messed up.