Actress Alex Kingston has had a turbulent love life before joining Strictly Come Dancing as her marriage to actor Ralph Fiennes came to a heartbreaking end amid an affair
Strictly Come Dancing star Alex Kingston has had a rocky love life before finding love with her husband. The Doctor Who actress, 62, has signed up to the latest series of the hit BBC dance competition as she prepares to strut her stuff on the dancefloor.
She became a firm favourite of Doctor Who fans after landing the role of River Song and her character was part of David Tenant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi’s stints on the sci-fi show. Her TV career has seen her star in US medical drama ER, period dramas The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders, Arrow and A Discovery of Witches.
Alex has made no secret of her love of Strictly as in 2019, she said: “Sarah Hadland and I talked about how much we’d like to do Strictly Come Dancing. Then I discovered she’s a trained ballet dancer. ‘Hang on a minute! That’s not fair!’ So, I can’t do it on a season when she is on it!” It comes after a Strictly Come Dancing star pulls out of show as he makes career announcement.
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Away from screens, Alex has had her fair share of heartbreak. She met Oscar nominated actor Ralph Fiennes at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art back in 1983.
They tied the knot a decade later, however their romance came to a disastrous end when Ralph fell for a woman 18 years his elder. Alex once: “We were like strangers – very fragile.
“His mother was dying and somehow we thought the wedding was going to heal everything. But that was crazy, of course.” In 1995, Ralph starred in Hamlet at Hackney Empire opposite Francesca Annis—who played Gertrude, his character’s mother.
Despite the age gap, their affair led to him leaving Alex and confessing his love for Francesca. Ralph, aged 32 at the time, embarked on a romance with Francesca, then 50.
Francesca, who has three kids with photographer Patrick Wiseman, reportedly left him for the actor. Alex revealed the depth of her emotional struggle post-divorce to the Daily Mail, saying: “I was feeling worthless, that I would never find anyone else as good as my husband, which is ridiculous, but I had so little self-esteem.
“Divorce is awful but it is also something I don’t regret happening to me because it has shaped who I am now.” Ralph and Francesca dated for 10 years between 1997 and 2006 and hit back at age gap concerns.
“Of course I don’t spend days agonising over the age difference. How can I? There is nothing I can do about it,” she once said. “Ralph and I have been together ten years now so, whatever happens, we have had a very good, different relationship and an interesting time.”
Their relationship fell apart in the wake of a sensational affair allegation as Romanian singer Corneila Crisan claimed she had a two-year affair with Ralph.
The next day, Fiennes and Francesca announced they were going their separate ways, as they said: “Miss Annis confirms today that she and Ralph Fiennes are to separate.”
Ralph’s affair had a heartbreaking affect on Alex as she admitted to considering and nearly attempting suicide. She went on to marry German writer Florian Haertel and welcomed daughter Salome together in 2001.
However, they split in 2009 with their divorce finalised four years later. Thankfully, Alex has found love again as she is now married to TV presenter Jonathan Stamp having wed in Italy in 2015.
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