Colin Firth and his wife Livia have settled out of court with Marco Brancaccia, the Italian journalist they accused of stalking Livia following an affair with her.
“In the best interests of their families, the parties have agreed to a private settlement,” lawyers for both parties said in a statement first reported by The Sun on Wednesday.
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“Therefore the parties have asked the court for a postponement of the preliminary hearing in order to formalize the agreement. From this point on, this agreement precludes any further public statement by any fo the parties about this matter,” a longer version of the statement continued, as reported by PEOPLE Thursday.
Brancaccia and Livia had a relationship while she and Firth were briefly separated between 2015 and 2016. In 2017, Livia filed a report in Italy accusing Brancaccia of launching “a frightening campaign of harassment,” which he denied.
Although the investigation began in 2017, Brancaccia was officially charged with stalking Livia in May when authorities found “abusive messages and emails” on his phone during the investigation, according to The Times.
In March, the Italian movie producer and director confirmed she had an affair with Brancaccia, who is a journalist for the ANSA news agency and her lifelong friend.
“For obvious reasons, the Firths have never had any desire to make this matter public. 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,” representatives for Firth and Livia said in a statement at the time.
“Subsequently, Mr. Brancaccia carried out a frightening campaign of harassment over several months, much of which is documented,” the statement continued. “As a consequence of his stalking, threats and refusal to desist, the legal complaint was lodged with the Italian authorities.”
The couple lives in London, England but also has a home in Umbria, Italy.
Brancaccia denied the claims made against him in March, saying that he had only sent Livia two messages since their relationship ended and that he sent Firth one email.
“My ‘stalking’ consisted of two messages via WhatsApp after she ended our relationship in June 2016, and an email. I wrote an email to Colin about my relationship with Livia, which I now regret sending, and she filed a complaint against me for stalking out of fear that I could go public with what she had revealed to me about her marriage and work,” he told The Times.
He also alleged that Livia sent more correspondence to him than she let on in her accusation. “In a year she sent me hundreds of messages of love, photos and videos, even a diary,” he said.
Livia and Firth share two children, Luca, 16, and Matteo, 15. They married in 1997 after first meeting in 1996 on the set of the BBC drama Nostromo. Firth, who has become an Italian citizen, also has another son, from a previous marriage to actress Meg Tilly.
