Dominic West and his wife sometimes ‘joke’ about aftermath of Lily James scandal-Alistair McGeorge-Entertainment – Metro

Dominic West has reflected on the aftermath of his moment with Lily James (Picture: Getty)

Dominic West has admitted he and his wife are able to joke about the fallout from his apparent kiss with Lily James in 2020.

The Pursuit of Love actor and his co-star were photographed together on an electric scooter in Rome three and a half years ago, before stopping at a cafe where the married man appeared to lean in close to her face.

The pictures went everywhere, with Dominic and his wife Catherine FitzGerald addressing the paparazzi outside their London home when they shared a kiss and put out a handwritten sign reading: ‘Our marriage is strong and we’re very much still together. Thank you. Catherine and Dominic.’

The 52-year-old star isn’t keen on discussing the situation almost four years later, but he has confessed they still have moments of levity as a result of the aftermath.

‘I hesitate to speak on my wife’s behalf because it was obviously horrible, particularly for her,’ he told The Times. ‘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.

Dominic and his wife Catherine FitzGerald are able to joke about the ‘absurd situation’ (Picture: Richard Young/Shutterstock)

‘And so when we go out we do sort of say, “Shall we go and have a show of unity up in London?” ‘

He admitted it ‘was an absurd situation’ for the entire family, in particular his wife and their children together.

‘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.’

Two years after the controversy, he started playing King Charles in The Crown, and he has admitted his own experience of fame and public backlash helped inspire his performance.

The couple have since joked about their ‘show of unity’ (Picture: MIKE / SplashNews.com)

‘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,’ he explained.

‘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.’

Lily James is yet to directly address the scandal (Picture: Stephane Cardinale- Corbis/Getty Images)

Lily is yet to directly address the situation in public, although she appeared to reference it in 2022 when a journalist for Rolling Stone noted that ‘she’d even had a brush with the gossip rags’ during promo for her role as Pamela Anderson in Hulu’s Pam and Tommy.

‘Women in the public eye at some point experience some sort of difficult situation in their relationship between privacy and your life being in the tabloids,’ she replied at the time.

‘It was a lot. It’s a story as old as time.’

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