Lily James continues to pull back from the public eye as she weathers the aftermath of being photographed last week, kissing her married The Pursuit of Love co-star, Dominic West. The actress pulled out of a media appearance for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association just 45 minutes before she was set to be interviewed about her starring role in Rebecca alongside Armie Hammer, according to Page Six.
James initially appeared at the two-day Hollywood Foreign Press event last Tuesday, just one day after photos of her canoodling with West in Rome had been published online. However, reporters were told less than an hour before her interview time that she would no longer be part of the event. “It was a two-day junket. On the first day, Lily was joined by the producers who it seemed were there to protect her from anyone asking questions about the photos,” a source told Page Six. “The next day, when members of the HFPA and others were due to talk to her, she pulled out at the 11th hour. There was no explanation.” The Cinderella actress has since canceled planned appearances on the TODAY show and the Graham Norton Show.
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West has addressed the photos that were published of his PDA with his co-star somewhat, posing for pictures with wife Catherine FitzGerald outside of their London home and handing out sheets of paper reading, “Our marriage is strong and we’re very much still together. Thank you. Catherine and Dominic.” West, who married FitzGerald in 2010, shares four children with his wife — Dora, 14, Senan, 12, Francis, 11, and Christabel, 5 — and 22-year-old daughter Martha with ex-girlfriend Polly Astor. Meanwhile, James was romantically linked over the summer to Marvel actor Chris Evans and previously dated Dr. Who star Matt Smith.
The Affair actor’s interesting monogamy thoughts were made public in a 2016 article in The Evening Standard. “I mean, I think women should be more indulgent of affairs,” he told the reporter. “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.” Later in the interview, the actor admitted he had quite the playboy days in his younger days but that he thought he was over that stage of life. “That got a lot of things out of my system — hopefully,” he said.
