English actor Charles Dance has said his marriage to Joanna Haythorn ended after he ‘succumbed to some temptations’.
The Game Of Thrones actor, 77, married Haythorn in 1970 and the pair had two children together – Oliver, 50, and Rebecca, 44 – before they divorced in 2004.
‘For the most part it was a wonderful marriage, but then, unfortunately, I succumbed to some temptations along the way and the marriage ended because of my behaviour really.
‘I eventually had to come clean,’ the four-time Emmy nominee admitted, who starred as villainous Tywin Lannister in the hit HBO fantasy series.
Describing his relationship with his wife at the time, he added: ‘Because we were living in Somerset, in this enormous place, and Jo had her study at one end and I had mine at the other end, and we became a bit like George and Martha (in the play) Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? really after a while.’
He also admitted that his wife was in the dark over his dalliances.
‘Eventually I came back and I thought, “really, we have to have (a) very serious conversation”. And I had to come clean and it came as a shock to Jo, bless her.’
Reflecting on his behaviour, The Crown actor, who is now in a relationship with Alessandra Masi, 55, told Gyles Brandreth on the Rosebud podcast: ‘I don’t want to be seen to be scrabbling around for excuses.’
Dance also claimed that he had ‘never thought of myself as attractive’.
‘I really didn’t…’ he added. ‘(It) wasn’t until I did The Jewel In The Crown years later and people talked about me as being “the thinking woman’s crumpet”.
‘I always felt very grateful if girls behaved as if they were attracted to me.’
The star played Sgt Guy Perron in the 1984 TV series, which was an adaptation of Paul Scott’s Raj Quartet novels about the final days of the British Raj in India, during and after World War II.
However, the actor – who has also appeared in Hollywood films including Mank, Alien 3 and The Imitation Game – claimed there was ‘no justification for it’, while also expressing ‘huge regret’ over the end of his marriage.
‘In our business, Gyles, temptation is often presented and you have to be pretty together and balanced, and have not a particularly powerful libido to not succumb to that.
‘So, the marriage came to an end – huge regret. But after about 18 months, Jo and I, thankfully, became the best of friends, and we remain so, thank God.’
Asked if he would do anything differently now, he said: ‘Of course. Oh my goodness, the benefit of hindsight.
‘It took me a long time to learn the law of cause and effect.’
Dance met Masi on the set of his 2020 film The Book of Vision, which was shot on location in both Italy and Belgium, where she was working as a production manager.
When asked about his favourite memory of working on the movie, Charles told The Times in 2023: ‘To be honest, it’s meeting Alessandra.’
He went on to reveal she is now living with him a lot of the time, adding it’s something he’s ‘really pleased about’.
Charles was asked whether striking up a romance with Alessandra overshadowed his work on the film, and he replied: ‘Well, it does a bit. Alessandra’s fantastic. I’m very, very lucky.’
Previously he was in a relationship with artist Eleanor Boorman from 2008 to 2012, with whom he shares a daughter, Rose, born in 2012.
This article was originally published on March 30.