Dominic West's marriage 'as good as over after admitting to having feelings for Lily James'

Dominic West’s 10-year marriage to his wife Catherine FitzGerald is reportedly ‘as good as over’ after photos emerged of him canoodling with actress Lily James during a romantic weekend in Rome, Italy last month.

According to reports, landscape designer Catherine, 49, is preparing to end their relationship as the screen star, 51, is said to have admitted to having feelings for the thespian, 31. 

The claims came just weeks after Dominic and his long-term partner staged a photo opportunity outside their Wiltshire home and told reporters: ‘Our marriage is strong and we’re very much still together.’ 

A source told The Sun: ‘Catherine has told those closest to her that Dominic has admitted having feelings for Lily.

‘At first it seemed as though the whole thing was just a one-off but Catherine has since said it’s become obvious it was more than that. Catherine feels crushed by it, naturally. It’s a huge thing to be coming to terms with.

‘She has since told the people closest to her their marriage is as good as over now and she doesn’t think there is a way past this.’  

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Dominic and Lily for further comment. 

TV and film stars Dominic and Lily became the subject of worldwide scrutiny, when the images emerged showing the pair enjoying an al fresco lunch with their mutual agent, Angharad Wood.  

Lily and Dominic enjoyed a two-day vacation in Italy where they were seen riding on a scooter through Rome, and The Affair star appeared to at one point lean over and kiss her neck.

A source told MailOnline they spent two nights in a suite at the top Hotel De La Ville with a panoramic view over the city and just at two minutes walk from the Spanish steps. Just days later, the father-of-five and his wife defended their marriage.

This came hours after Catherine told friends she was ‘heartbroken’ over the images, which went viral, 

The shell-shocked mother-of-four had clutched a tissue in her hand as she gingerly stepped out of the marital home in Chippenham, Wiltshire with her husband by her side, hiding her ring finger in her jeans pocket.

Dominic’s ring was off as it had been for his weekend with Lily.  

It was previously reported that Catherine held crisis talks with her family over the future of her marriage. 

The couple – who tied the knot in June 2010 after reuniting following their university romance – share Dora, 13, Senan, 12, Francis, 11, and Christabel, seven, together, while the Sheffield native has another daughter Martha, 21, with former girlfriend, aristocrat, Polly Astor.

A fortnight ago, old Etonian West confirmed his wife Catherine, had gone away, but explained: ‘She’s on a work trip. She’s gone by herself.’

When asked if they were still together, he laughed: ‘Of course we are. Our relationship is fine.’ 

While Catherine was posting on Instagram, Lily met her long-time pal Dominic Cooper and another diner inside a restaurant in London on Tuesday night, in her first outing since her scandal erupted. 

Up until Thursday, when the UK went into lockdown, London was in Tier Two, the rules of which include: ‘You must not meet socially indoors with family or friends unless they are part of your household or support bubble’, however Lily has claimed to MailOnline that the dinner was a business meeting – which is permitted.

The Rebecca actress was seen laughing and joking while eating inside the Lemonia Greek restaurant in Primrose Hill, north London, with good friend and Mamma Mia co-star Dominic, 42, and another diner. 

Meanwhile, Dominic made his feelings on infidelity quite clear during an Evening Standard interview, back in 2016, when he asked the reporter why wives make such a fuss over infidelity.

He said: ‘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 behaviour between the ages of 40 and 50. Let it all blow over.’ 

The director also told Harper’s Bazaar when promoting The Affair that monogamy is ‘not the necessarily natural way to be’. 

He shared: ‘It’s one of those subjects that people have very strong opinions about because everybody is open to it and can experience it. It affects kings as much as it does snails. A lot of people have experienced it and a lot of people fear it. 

‘I suppose people suspect that the conventions that we have agreed upon in society, that a man and women can stay together for life or a certain amount of time without cheating, that they’re not really staying together based on anything other than how society thinks they should behave.’

Moreover, in 2012, he told Femail that he gave up Catholicism for women because of ‘all those rules about sex’. 

Last week, landscape gardener Catherine had a big smile on her face in a new Instagram picture of herself picking flowers at her ancestral home, Glin castle in Ireland, which was captioned: ‘September scenes: Picking hydrangeas.’

The picture was shared on the account on Wednesday, but taken before her husband, 51, was pictured looking very cosy with Lily in Rome.  

Not one comment on the picture referred to Dominic’s snaps, leading to a suggestion that comments had been moderated.    

Brunette Lily dated The Crown star Matt Smith, 38, on and off for five years, with the relationship said to be over for cook just weeks before she was pictured with West. 

In July, she was pictured enjoying a night out and a cosy park date in London with hunky Captain America star Chris Evans, 39. 

In an interview with The Guardian conducted before their dalliance in Rome, Lily said she had known her co-star for ‘a really long time’ since they appeared together in a Shakespeare play a decade ago. 

Speaking of his role in their latest venture, she added: ‘He’s a brilliant Uncle Matthew, another mad sort of character. 

‘I have a great line in it where I say, ‘Matthew is frightening and I disapprove of him, but I feel he sets the bar for English manhood.’ What a great line.’ 

As well as the shock of the snaps of her intimate lunch with Dominic, the Mamma Mia! actress has also been hit with claims that she grew close to her married Rebecca co-star Armie Hammer, 34.

Lily has raised eyebrows by forging close friendships with her co-stars in recent productions – Armie in Rebecca and Dominic in BBC drama The Pursuit Of Love, which traces the romantic adventures of the free-spirited Linda Radlett between the two world wars.  

The Cinderella star featured in a number of steamy embraces with The Social Network’s Armie in the recent Netflix adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca – but it was their off-camera chemistry that prompted gossip on the set that they had become an item, before he split from his wife this summer. 

The actor, who stars as the mysterious Maxim de Winter, split from wife Elizabeth Chambers, 38, in July after 10 years of marriage, and they share children Harper, five, and Ford, three. 

A film insider also said of Lily and the actor: ‘She and Armie were obviously close and spent a lot of time together in the evenings and at weekends.’   

Lily and Armie finally made a joint appearance after cancelling a string of interviews following her recent Dominic West scandal on Mark Wright’s Heart show a fortnight ago. 

Before that, Lily had pulled out of interviews with the Today show in America earlier this week and the upcoming episode of The Graham Norton Show. 

During their joint appearance Lily discussed her love for the Spice Girls, but again failed to address that romantic liaison with Dominic. 

Mark told Lily that Emma Bunton, who she is a fan of, has her own Heart show and Lily said: ‘I love Emma so much, and I went to the Spice Girls gig and she met me back stage and it was one of the greatest days of my life… 

‘I was with my two best friends and my other best friend lives in New York and Emma did a video with us and was like “Hi Danni” and honestly us four best friends have known each other since we were eleven, it was one of the greatest moments of our life. I adore her.’

Armie chimed in and spoke about her emotional reaction to the video, adding: ‘Lily came to work the next day after the Spice Girls concert and while in the makeup trailer talking to her makeup artist about the fact that she got a video with Emma, she started crying.’ 

Lily also detailed the strop she had when she thought she was going to miss the show, and said: 

‘Also, on the night of going, they kept me later than they should have. They went overtime and I have never thrown a tantrum on set before, and I was livid, wasn’t I Armie? I thought I was going to miss the Spice Girls!’ 

Mark didn’t question Lily on her recent headline-grabbing getaway, where she was pictured cosying up to Dominic during the romantic weekend away.

Lily made her first TV appearance following the controversy on the Wednesday before, when she appeared on he Jimmy Fallon show without Armie to discuss their film.  She addressed Mamma Mia 3! rumours during the chat.

Jimmy, 46, also did not broach the scandalous subject about Lily and Dominic. 

Lily’s interview segment opened with Jimmy asking about her quarantine project of teaching a Broadway class over Zoom.

She said it was her first time teaching and the project consisted of Broadway and West End professionals teaching theatre classes online to students.

‘It’s great because, you know, when these performers can’t perform because of lockdown they’re getting to share their skills and people at home can be creative and learn and try and have some fun,’ Lily said. 

‘I was teaching audition technique which is insane because I am terrible at auditions. I auditioned for Mamma Mia! during Glastonbury weekend.  I knew I had to sing in this audition, I was desperate for this part.

‘It was due to be scheduled at the end of Glastonbury. I knew for sure that after screaming in a field for five days there was no way I would be able to sing, so I did it on the way in the car.

‘I had the car parked and filled to the brim with wellies. I went to Glasto. My phone ran out of battery.

‘It wasn’t until on the way home, I plugged my phone in and my agent called me. I was like, [raspy voice]… ‘Hello!’ 

‘She said: ‘You got the job!’ I said ‘Please say it doesn’t start soon’.’   

Fallon asked Lily: ‘The producers say it was meant to be a trilogy, so there may be a Mamma Mia! 3 in the works. Would you be interested?’ 

‘Yes, I would do 4,5,6,7,8,9,10,’ she replied. ‘I’m down. Signed, sealed, delivered, I’m theirs.’ 

Lily also plugged her new movie Rebecca and particularly praised her co-star Kristin Scott Thomas, 60, for her work in the movie.

‘She’s just chilling and wonderful in every way,’ Lily said. 

Meanwhile, Lily can  breathe a sigh of relief because her next screen role involves no romantic interest. She is set to play Peggy Jo Tallas, a Texan outlaw who held up a string of banks in the 1990s – dressed as a man.

But while the armed robber was no stranger to adrenaline, her love life – unlike Miss James’s – was apparently non-existent.  

Ms James’s forthcoming movie, Peggy Jo, has been described as ‘Bonnie but without the Clyde’ and will be filmed early next year on location in Texas and the southern United States. 

The action begins in May 1991 when Tallas – in her trademark disguise of a stetson hat and a fake beard – starts her crime spree.

Following a robbery in 2005, Tallas – then aged 60 – was shot dead after pointing a fake gun at police. Peggy Jo is expected to be in cinema by the end of 2021.

Lily also took part in an awkwardly-timed Harper’s Bazaar video interview, again conducted before the pictures of her and Dominic West came out, but released shortly after. 

During the chat, she referred to ‘making mistakes’, ‘women having affairs’ and her ‘rebellious streak’.   

In the video, the star said: ‘I feel I’ve rebelled in that way, I was always a rebellious teenager and I think it’s important to rebel in that way. I think criticism can be good if it’s constructive but I feel like if it’s attacking you or a vendetta that’s really difficult but I’m still learning…. 

‘I’m still figuring it out but I do think I can grow and develop a thicker skin. All that matters is those who love you.’

Speaking about Rebecca, she went on: ‘The character against Rebecca, she went against all norms as a woman, disobeyed her husband and had affairs was basically just brilliant and that was only in the 30s and people are afraid of women when they’re unleashed and women are warriors and that’s intimidating.’

On making mistakes, she continued: ‘I think I make mistakes all the time and I feel that’s what life’s about and I would never want to run away from a situation or be too scared to act… 

‘I think it’s better to throw yourself in and if your instincts are right even if they’re misguided or if you’re open you can recover from your mistakes and learn from them’. 

Elsewhere in  the chat, Lily admitted she wishes her younger self ‘had not been so obsessed with boys’ – and said she still thinks of herself as a child. She said she wishes she had ‘hung out with girl mates’ more in her younger years, and that she often wants to be ‘another person’ as she stunned in plunging satin for a striking shoot.

On advice she would give her younger self, she told the publication: ‘Don’t be obsessed by boys! Hang out with your girl mates. And don’t take everything so seriously – be kind to yourself!’ 

Lily recently revealed she undergoes shamanic healing sessions via Zoom as she continues her latest round of promotional appearances.  

In an interview with the Guardian Weekend magazine, released last month, the actress told how she is ‘horribly gullible’ and ‘easy to convince’. 

Shamans are believed to be able to communicate with spirits through magic, rituals and spiritual visions.  

While shamanic healing can include the shaman removing or replacing energies within the individual’s soul. It is a practice that has been used around the world for more than 100,000 years. 

Talking about her shamanic healing sessions guided with a healer, Lily said: ‘Over Zoom, with music and drumming and a healer who has led me through all these different rooms in my brain where I had all these messages. I met my grandmother’s dog Dylan, who taught me to laugh.’ 

Lily admitted that she is ‘horribly gullible’ and ‘easy to convince’, revealing that she was once approached by a fortune teller on Venice Beach in California.  

She said: ‘She came up to me and she said some s** to me that was so right, it was terrifying. But immediately the person I was with said, ‘Come on, Lily, she knows who you are’ which was true, maybe.’  

Lily went on to admit that she’s concerned the world has become too ‘moralistic’, saying that with art and life it’s ‘never black and white’ with everything happening in the ‘grey area’.

She said: ‘I think conversations about things that are difficult can become very much one side versus the other. We’re in a time where I feel things become very moralistic, and then it’s very difficult to explore around the edges.’