Colin Firth Announces Split From Wife Livia After 22 Years of Marriage

Colin Firth and his wife of 22 years, Livia, are splitting up, they announced in a joint statement on Friday. “Colin and Livia Firth have separated,” the statement reads, according to multiple reports. “They maintain a close friendship and remain united in their love for their children. They kindly ask for privacy. There will be no further comment.”

The two last appeared in public together at the Green Carpet Fashion Awards in Milan, Italy, in September. The former couple married in 1997 after first meeting in 1996 on the set of the BBC drama Nostromo, and
share sons Luca, 18, and Matteo, 16; Firth is also dad to 29-year-old son Will from his relationship with actress Meg Tilly. They live in London, England but also have a home in Umbria, Italy.

The separation may not be a total shock to fans who closely followed their relationship, as it comes nearly two years after Livia admitted to having an affair with the couple’s alleged stalker. She claimed at the time that Marco Brancaccia, an Italian journalist for the ANSA news agency and her lifelong friend, had been harassing her with “frightening” messages that police investigated.

In March 2018, Colin and Livia told Entertainment Tonight in a joint statement that “for obvious reasons, the Firths have never had any desire to make this matter public” and that the couple “privately made the decision to separate” a few years prior to that. “During that time Livia briefly became involved with former friend Mr. Brancaccia. The Firths have since reunited.”

Brancaccia denied the stalking accusations at first, saying that Livia lied to cover for their relationship. “[Livia] wanted to leave Colin for me… 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.”

The couple later reached a settlement with Brancaccia.

Photo credit: Ian West – PA Images / Contributor / Getty