Lily James Was Asked About Her Alleged Affair With Dominic West And Had A Tidy Answer

Lily James as Mrs. de Winter in Rebecca
(Image credit: (Netflix))

Mamma mia, Lily James has been on fire as of late with a handful of exciting roles. Between recent Netflix period pieces and her recent transformation into Pamela Anderson for Hulu, the British actress has been busy in the spotlight. However, Hollywood fame often means more interest in one’s personal life from the public and, last year, James was caught getting cozy with her married The Pursuit of Love co-star Dominic West.

In late 2020, the paparazzi caught pictures of 32-year-old with 51-year-old Dominic West in Rome, Italy with their arms around each other at the tourist sites and kissing while dining together. The puzzler here is the fact that West is married and “still together” with wife of over ten years Catherine FitzGerald and has four children with her. Now months after the pictures went viral, James has commented on it with these words:

Ach, I’m not really willing to talk about that. There is a lot to say, but not now, I’m afraid.

Lily James was brief in her answer and kept details tight-lipped when The Guardian asked her about the media frenzy that came out of the pictures. The actress reportedly was “horrified” about the situation and decided to cancel appearances promoting Netflix’s Rebecca following the paparazzi pictures.

Based on her comments, it sounds like she may decide to address the situation at length at some point but is not willing to at the present moment. This decision makes sense considering she is currently promoting her TV show alongside Dominic West, The Pursuit of Love, which comes out this Sunday, May 9. In the adaptation of Nancy Mitford’s novel, James plays lead Linda Radlett, and West plays her character’s uncle and caretaker.

The actors have known each other for years, originally working together back in 2011 for a production of Othello. It’s still unclear what the situation was between the two, but James’ comments seem to indicate there is something to speak about regarding it, considering she shared that there is a “lot to say” rather than outright deny a relationship of some kind but is "afraid" to do so.

Prior to the alleged affair, Lily James also turned heads when pictures were also taken of her over summer in which she and Chris Evans were spending time together as well while the Marvel actor was in London. James reportedly faced a breakup with Doctor Who star Matt Smith in 2019 following the couple’s five-year relationship.

Lily James is currently filming Pam & Tommy with Sebastian Stan, Nick Offerman and Seth Rogen for Hulu. The series will tell the story of ‘90s icons Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee and their whirlwind romance. The first episode of The Pursuit of Love premieres Sunday night on BBC One.

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.