We’ve got a hodge-podge of Benedict Cumberbatch news, hurray! I actually miss Cumberbatch a little bit. I expected him to do more press on behalf of Black Mass. Instead, I think he only gave a handful of short newspaper interviews, he didn’t junket for the film at all and he only came out for one premiere. Damn it, Batch!
What else? Well, this little piece of Cumberbatch-adjacent news might have slipped by some people last week. According to the Daily Mail, Benedict’s ex-girlfriend Olivia Poulet is getting married. Olivia and Benedict were together for an entire decade and they lived together happily, their families were close and they were pretty much as good as married. They split in 2011, after which Benedict bounced around from steady girlfriends and hookups before Sophie Hunter got pregnant in late summer/early fall 2014. Anyway, the Daily Mail had a few pieces of info about Olivia that I found interesting.
She is the woman who broke Benedict Cumberbatch’s heart —and now she’s engaged to a more handsome Sherlock Holmes actor, nine years his junior. I can reveal Olivia Poulet, 37-year-old star of The Thick Of It, has found lasting love with Laurence Dobiesz (inset), 30, who appeared in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes film A Game Of Shadows as an Austrian maitre d’.
TV Sherlock star Cumberbatch dated Poulet for ten years until 2011, but their relationship is said to have cooled after he said he wanted children. Though the split was, at the time, said to be ‘amicable’, close friends claimed last night it was Olivia who called time on Cumberbatch.
Poulet met Cumberbatch at the University of Manchester, where both studied drama, and they later shared a home in Hampstead, North London. Benedict told of his wish to be a dad in 2010: ‘I have been broody for five years,’ he said. ‘The big question is “When?” I think I’d like it before I’m 35 . . . I would love to have the ability to juggle a career and have a young child.’
Following their separation, the Old Harrovian actor went on to star in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with Colin Firth, and his film career took off. Poulet was born in Putney, South-West London, into a high-achieving family. Her mother is a judge and her, brother, Jamie, a neuroscientist. Two years ago, she disclosed she was dating another actor (‘I seem to have a taste for them’) whom she declined to name.
Cumberbatch married 37-year-old theatre director Sophie Hunter in February this year, and she gave birth to their son in June. After her split with Cumberbatch, Poulet was never keen to talk about her ex. ‘We are absolutely grand and adore each other, but it’s just difficult if every interview is about me going out with Benedict,’ she said.
Her new bloke is seven years younger! Sources claim Olivia and Benedict broke up because they disagreed about babies! He was pro-baby and she was anti-baby (or anti-baby at that moment). Do you think it’s harsh that she dumped him over his desire to have children? I don’t know, I think it’s interesting, actually. And it all worked out in the end for Bendy.
Last thing: Benedict has a stalker. Of course it’s a woman. Of course she’s a crazy, obsessed Cumberbitch. Sigh…
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Good Lord, this is an entire set of photos of people smiling without showing their teeth.
Bwahaha! You’re right!
Right? I’m imagining they all laugh like “tee hee hee” too. No guffaws from this crowd…too gauche!
You three are hilarious. I didn’t even notice that till you mentioned it.
They’re British; I suspect there’s a good reason to keep their teeth hidden.
Hahaha! 🙂
His body language with Olivia is so different than Sophie. But, good for Olivia! I remember when they split, journalists endlessly hounded her about whys/hows and she was soo classy about it all.
Yeah, he looks so much happier and more loving/intimate with Sophie.
I don’t mean that he was happier with Olivia, just that it’s different. They way she holds him and vice versa, the way he never looks at her but does at Sophie.
???? the opposite!
..looks more intimate/loving with Sophie? What are you smoking????
Ha, Gwen. That’s what I was thinking. You people must be on something. To me it looked like he loved Olivia. The best he can muster with Sophie is tolerance. At least, it looks that way to me in pics. I could be wrong, but…
@sloane, the übernannies are always like that, yes they are married, there is a baby, but it is sincerly not a big lovestory, it is no lovestory, only an oops baby. a lot of people marry for that reason, after they barely know each other, let alone, love each other. that’s another reason you can add why the society is so messed up 🙂
Well, I don’t really follow him, so I haven’t see many photos of them together. To me they always look very loving. Why the hate?
They dated for a year or two in secret before they got married, in addition to having been friends for many years. They would likely have married eventually even if she hadn’t become pregnant. Someone from Ben’s background, with his age and career, wouldn’t marry someone he didn’t love just because she was pregnant. It’s so silly the things the uberfans invent to tell themselves Ben is still ‘theirs.’ Though “he doesn’t love her” is at least vaguely less insane than “she’s a blackmailing junkie forcing him to carry a plastic doll around and pretend it’s his child.”
They dated “in secret” for a year or 2!?!?! I wonder if he told the other chicks he was seen with during that time that he had a “secret girlfriend”! LOL
I honestly don’t believe they were dating for 1-2 years before getting engaged. At a push they we’re casually dating from Feb/Mar 2014, his schedule alone had him all over the place so not a chance you could conduct a serious relationship like that. Its po9ssible she was with him but given his fans penchant for snapping photos of him, I think she’d have been unofficially spotted.
I don’t think he doesn’t love her though, more like he’s pushing 40, wanted a family, he knew her from before, she was pregnant so figured why not get married and give it a go and he wanted to get married before the child was born, no big drama or conspiracy, just a bit old fashioned and kind of typical of his posh set, and probably why when he tried to sell it as this huge romance, it felt a little forced, it was a rushed thing (wasn’t her first call with Vogue like the day after they got engaged or something, according to that profile on her dress?). I do think she was pregnant before they got engaged, fwiw.
Lindy, she can travel as easily as him surely? Plenty of people travel far more and still manage to have relationships. There were many reports and rumours and sightings of him having a secret brunette girlfriend for a year or two. He took trips to NY where she was at the same time, there was the much discussed Brighton trip, and he was seen with a mystery brunette at the theatre a few times. Remember she isn’t a celeb and was never in the public eye until they decided to take the relationship official so no one (unless they know her personally) really has the slightest clue where she was or what she was doing or would have recognised her back then. That one model he was rumoured to be dating, he actually said publicly he wasn’t dating her. Why would any single male celeb want to shoot down PR-friendly rumours linking him to a hot model, unless there was a real girlfriend in the picture?
Besides they’ve said they’ve known each other for 17 years. So anyone who says “they barely knew each other” is showing their bias.
Oooo-kaay, I haven’t got that much detail about where she was when he was, and beyond early last year I don’t recall on here any discussions about secret relationships (and CB have covered him a LOT) but yes, it’s possible that she was traveling with him, I just don’t believe it, he’s snapped too often by fans to not have been seen with her, once she was on the scene in 2014 there were lots of spottings, I agree with you there.
(I don’t think he or his people made any official comment on Katia or Kinvara when they were linked, but I could be wrong)
> and probably why when he tried to sell it as this huge romance, it felt a little forced, it was a rushed thing (wasn’t her first call with Vogue like the day after they got engaged or something, according to that profile on her dress?).
Nobody knows what went on. But I don’t agree that he tried to sell anything. He was asked about her, he answered.
What was he supposed to do? Even if the wedding was rushed, what was he supposed to say – well, she is pregnant, and this is why we are marrying so quickly? Nobody says that because it is nobody’s business. Everybody gives polite answers and that is that, unless they are Bieber or Kardashians who live to create drama.
They married, he says he loves her, he says they are happy. This is all fans need to know.
#jawseyes
and with that I’m out…
They absolutely positively were NOT dating in secret for 2 years. This started early Spring 2014. Her own brother confirmed that when approached by the press. She fell pregnant end of Sept/early Oct 2014 if baby was born on 1st June.
Spring to September/October, hmm.
So six months after they knew each other for years? At least enough to know that they are from similar backgrounds and therefore probably share quite some ideas about life? Then a pregnancy happens and they both know that late 30s is probably a good age for both of them? Doesn’t sound too bad. Not like a great lovestory from a novel or fanfiction, but like something that can actually work out. Many good marriages start that way, because they are built on life experience and not on hormones.
She lived in NYC for 5+ years before moving back to London in MAY 2014- this is a known fact. But PR would be happy to hear that you bought that “friends for 17 years” story hook, line and sinker!
> She lived in NYC for 5+ years before moving back to London in MAY 2014- this is a known fact. But PR would be happy to hear that you bought that “friends for 17 years” story hook, line and sinker!
And what does it matter how they got together and married? He isn’t married to you. That is between them.
@Phoebe Not sure if you replied to me with the “friends for 17 years” stuff. That’s not what I said at all. I just stated that they knew they have similar backgrounds and social circles. As like maybe two members of the Tea Party-movement share similar values and don’t have to date intimately for ages to find that out. Doesn’t really matter either way though, because as EN so greatly put it: They got together and married.
Anon – her brother has never spoken about her to the press or on public, not ever, apart from one quote (in a Daily Mirror article the day after the engagement) which was a single sentence saying “I’m happy for her.”
The rumour about her brother talking to the press comes from a blog entry from one of the better known skeptics, who posted stating that her brother had given an interview to the Daily Mirror the day after the engagement where he’d stated they’d only been dating six months. But the article in question, had no such quote. Only the “I’m happy for her” quote.
I don’t know if the blogger was lying, trolling, made a genuine mistake, or if someone trolled her by (maybe a nanny trying to prove that skeptics will post anything without checking). But the whole “her brother talked to the Mirror about the relationship” has been 100% debunked.
Phoebe is one of the most infamous Tumblr skeptics posting under different names. That’s why she’s in every Cumberbatch article claiming to be an impartial observer who somehow still knows every details of Ben’s life from childhood on, and keeps ranting about evil ‘nannies.’
I believe she is likely the same person who used to post here under the name ‘hermia.’ (Her pattern of commenting is identical.) Recently hermia posted a comment about something she’d seen on the locked Instagram of one of Sophie’s friends. That same IG was hacked by some of the skeptics on Tumblr a while back. So that proves that hermia is either one of those skeptics, or part of their circle.
Funnily enough the minute someone pointed out how creepy it was that hermia not only had access to Sophie’s friend’s private locked Instagram but thought it appropriate to share details about it on a public forum, ‘hermia’ vanished and ‘Phoebe’ appeared!
@EN – I was joining in on commenting on this thread, where some are speculating that they were dating for years before the Knock Up and I was pointing that for those years she lived in a different country. Please leave this GOSSIP website if you don’t want to GOSSIP.
Errrr…Benn, you do realize you sound just as over invested as those you’re denigrating?
Yikes, all I said was that his body language is totally different with each of them. I don’t think he loves Sophie the way he loved Olivia and I don’t think he could love Olivia the way he loves Sophie because they’re two different people.
It sounds like they had different goals for their lives and broke up. Neither party is wrong or bad. Sometimes you have to move on.
So right! In real life people have different relationships at different times in their lives. Olivia and Bendy obviously had a very long and close relationship which eventually came to a natural end. As she says, she adores him, and they are probably a good memory to each other. Olivia is moving on with her life, Bendy is moving on with his, just as we all do. He has found someone he wants to make a family with, and they seem to suit each other for now. Who would not wish them all the very best of health and happiness? No drama here, just people living their lives as best they can.
I feel for Olivia, they’ve been split for what, 5 years, she has her own life and career and lives it quietly and she’s still getting associated with him upon her own engagement announcement. That has to get annoying.
And she has to deal with the crazies who think Ben’s marriage and baby are both fake harassing her. 🙁
I know what you mean, I actually cringe to think of anyone contacting any of his friends/work colleagues/exes on social media, for anything good or bad.
He must be so mortified about it all sometimes. I realize that he chased the stardom to a certain extent, but when “fans” start threatening to kill his colleagues? He must feel so awful I can’t imagine. He does, through no fault of his own, make life very difficult for anyone who chooses to associate with him or has in the past.
NO ONE deserves that. That stalking article was terrifying.
they have tweeted his friends and poulet at one point is my understanding, it’s terrible
Why would it be harsh to dump someone for disagreeing on such a major issue? It’s not as if they’re teenagers talking in hypotheticals, and it’s not like there’s a middle position. At some point, it’s best to go your separate ways so you can find more compatible partners (whether that’s what he did afterwards is on him, not her).
Hear, hear. Also, you can imagine that his workaholic self would not stop working non-stop, so who would likely get most of the baby burden in that relationship? Not him. And she is/was trying to build a career for herself, seperate of him. Sounds like it was the best for both of them.
ITA. On that front, Sophie seems to be the perfect fit – he can go off to work all the time, she stays home with the kid, working here and there as she pleases, until it’s time for boarding school.
Yeah, if I was with a guy who wanted kids, I’d have to turf him as well. Smart.
Yes, especially as it’s the woman who is impacted the most during pregnancy, why put yourself through that unless you 100% want it for yourself, not someone else.
He always struck me as someone who was in love with the idea of kids but wouldn’t let it alter his life/work that much, doesn’t make him a bad guy or bad father but he always struck me as having this dreamy notion of how much work it was actually going to be.
Yep. The kind that think diapers get changed by some magical fairy and that all children sleep through the night at 2 days old.
Yep, i think you nailed it.
Yes, it seems like even when parents are wealthy actors, it’s still the mother who ends up making most of the career sacrifices to have children. If Olivia’s main priorities are things other than having children, I think having a baby might end up really derailing anything else she wants to do.
Better to end the relationship so he can find a woman who’s excited about having kids and she can find one with a man who either doesn’t want kids or who’s up for having some in a way she finds more compatible with her life – which is what both of them did.
Oh definitely agree with you, Lindy. I think most men just love the idea of procreating their genes, but don’t give much thought after that since they figure that the woman will do most of the raising. Though, of course, things have changed and more men are becoming hands-on parents.
@lunchcoma, Sophie doesn’t seem the type to be that excited about having children, but that is just my take on it, I could be totally wrong.
I think differences on a major life goal is a reason to breakup. A male friend advised me that you need to hear what the other person is saying about major goals and put a time limit on it. You can’t continue to hope that the other person will change their mind or that you won’t be resentful in the future. This reminds me of Roy Dupuis and Celine Bonnier. He always wanted children and she really didn’t. They were together for 15 years and he is now 50+.
Roy Dupuis! SUCH a handsome man. They broke up a few years ago didnt they? I am not into having kids at all, but I think he could change my mind! 😉 Onto Montreal I go.
I recall a statement he allegedly made while they were still together – “We both want children but not necessarily with each other. “. I thought at the time that didn’t sound promising.
I remember that too. It was rather odd. Who says that in an interview when you are still with a person? He also talked about them taking a break for a while because Olivia insisted on it. Thankfully they both have moved on and found someone else.
It’s actually one of the most mature reasons to break up: different life goals.
If you stay in those type of relationships, you end up bitter and trying to compromise on who you are for someone else. A child is a huge deal, a full person and needs both parents to want them. Children see and feel resentment when that’s not the case. It messes with your emotional well being.
Good for her, if it’s true. It allows both parties to move on towards what they want.
Sigh. Where can i order some cheekbones?
No. Children are absolutely a deal breaker. It’s not fair to either partner if one wants them and the other doesn’t. A breakup is entirely sensible in that situation.
Cor! Olivia’s new fella is a looker!
There isn’t even a picture of him. I was going to ask, where is the lucky new guy who is supposedly hotter than Cumberbatch, as per Daily Mail?
There you have him… http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00084828.html
I don’t see how he is anywhere near Cumberbatch in terms of hotness. But everyone’s taste is different.
But you know what – I am going to turn around and say – he and Olivia look like twins. Just like people were saying Cumberbatch and Hunter look like twins.
May be it was meant to be )).
Oh, I replied because I hadn’t read the DM, hadn’t seen there was a photo of him..
> Oh, I replied because I hadn’t read the DM, hadn’t seen there was a photo of him
There isn’t a photo of him here, that is why I asked, so I followed your link. Thank you.
The DM article cited here says “and now she’s engaged to a more handsome Sherlock Holmes actor, nine years his junior” )).
Oh my, yes, he *is* quite the looker! And is his background Polish?
He’s cute and probably less maintenance then ole Cumberbatch.
I think he’s a cutie too. He & Olivia look like siblings, just like HunterBatch!
Ahhh… Flashback to the days when Cumby was still so, so cute.
It’s crazy to see how much he ages since Olivia.
“Do you think it’s harsh that she dumped him over his desire to have children?”
No, that’s a reasonable and mature thing to do, based on different life goals. I broke up with a lot of perfectly nice guys because they wanted kids and I don’t. No matter how good our relationship was otherwise, I never felt it was fair to essentially waste their time with someone who would never give them the thing they wanted most.
Agreed. It’s the one item in a relationship that you can’t meet halfway on. All you can end up with is either a grudging parent or a frustrated wannabe parent. Better to be honest with yourself and your partner and move on.
They broke up because they didn’t want the same things. That’s what reasonable adults do.
Exactly. I do feel bad for anyone who doesn’t find this out until many years into a relationship, but it’s a fact that people’s wants often change from what they originally discussed when their relationship began. I bet kids were wanted by both of them together but Benedict’s career upswing severely changed all that.
She didn’t want to have a baby with a man whose ambition and drive for his job would have him gone from the house 10 months out of the year. She was right to make that call. Bet you anything she has a baby in the next couple years with her DH.
Olivia dumped Ben because he was a workaholic who unfailingly put his projects ahead of their relationship. She may or may not want babies, but how can you have one if your man is never around?
Some people believe it or not, would prefer that relationship (we discussed this last night actually amongst my friends). It is not my idea of a wonderful relationship, but some people do not enjoy sex or want really separate lives and someone who is away a lot is ideal for those people. We hear all the time rich older women whose husbands cheat and they could care less, it is because they were allowed a freedom that perhaps they wouldn’t have had with someone else (and the ability to cheat also). I am talking about wealthy people who married in the 60’s or 70’s or even 80’s.
‘I am talking about wealthy people who married in the 60′s or 70′s or even 80′s.’
Yeah, well, I’m not.
So everyone, I am back from my trip to London and Paris. Hamlet was wonderful, but I came away loving Siân Brooke, who played Ophelia, more than anyone else! In fact, a friend told me that she had a friend who saw the performance and came away thinking the same thing. I bumped into one of the actors from Hamlet after the show on the Tube. I told him that I loved the performance and that to please tell the actress who played Ophelia that she was brilliant and that her performance made me cry. He said he’d be delighted to tell her.
I chuckle all the time now thinking of this actor announcing to everyone that this American woman raved about Siân – without even a mention of Benedict. I’m sure the cast loved that!
I loved Ophelia too ( I only saw the broadcast). And I couldn’t understand why everyone was so critical of her.
I loved Hamlet, Ophelia, Gertrude, the friends, the actress that played the traveling actress and the actress that played the second gravedigger.
I saw Hamlet last week and thought Sian was awful. My friend who was with me felt the same, if not more. She has studied Hamlet and felt Ophelia was portrayed wrong. Just our opinion though.
I saw the Tennant’s version shortly before that one, where Ophelia was sweet, lovely and obedient . I would say that is the standard interpretation. And she is like this in the book itself. I always thought – well, what did Hamlet ever saw in her? She is so weak. A marionette.
With this one I saw a strong woman, with a bit of a temper too, trapped in a society run by men where she has to comply. In that scene where she is put in a hallway to wait for Hamlet , so that everyone can spy one her. She is really great. You can see she doesn’t want to be there, she wants to run away , she feels conflicted about being used like that. I really liked that scene.
And the final scene with Ophelia and Gertrude is easily the most powerful out of the whole play.
Finally I saw Ophelia who was worthy of a prince but bound by the rules of the society.
I didn’t think Sian’s vocal projection was strong enough, and she was very breathy. Apart from that she was great.
Anon
The actress who played ophelia would have studied Shakespeare too, naturally.There isn’t necessarily a ” right” interpretation.
BGE, welcome home, hope you had a fab trip. Wonderful that you enjoyed Hamlet, and I will keep an eye out for Sian Brooke, she sounds promising. Did you give my regards to gay Paris?
Mais oui, Antipodean!
BGE,
Another Bostonian here. Well, an immigrant one.
I saw Hamlet and had exactly the same thought as you. I really liked Sian Brooke’s Ophelia. Really liked her. I’ve studied Hamlet amongst various Shakespearean tales, and Ophelia was always a waste of the space and air time to me; in almost all portrayals including how I mentally transcribed her from the written text. This Ophelia, the one that mourns but rejects the BF (Hamlet) who rejected her (to her mind) but then mourns and loses her marbles over the death of her father made sense to me. She was believable and made you (well, me) mourn with her and understand that her sense of loss might have driven her over the edge. Perhaps because of personal circumstances of my own ( experience?), perhaps with the passage of time, who knows. But I loved Sian’s portrayal of Ophelia.
I have to say that I cared for neither Claudius nor Gertrude … I didn’t get their down-in-the-dumps portrayal at all. These two had supposedly handily moved on from the death of the brother (well, clearly) / husband, so why such somber stick-in-the-mud, stodgy characters? Hamlet, Ophelia, Laertes, even much of the state of Denmark, sure … they were all in mourning for their own losses and beleaguered by slights. But why the King and Queen. Can anyone explain?
Anyhow, I just wanted to say that I agreed with you, BGE that Ophelia/Sian was a revelation and gave me a newer/better/different interpretation of the character altogether.
What a great comment! Thank you for this description.
I saw Hamlet a few times and her performance was quite uneven: sometimes good, sometimes not so good. Which is why the reviews differed so much.
The children question isn’t one where you can go half and half on. It’s all or nothing, either way.
My husband and I agreed before we got married that we didn’t want kids. One of his friends got oddly huffy and snipped that “you’re really lucky you married someone who already feels the way you do.” Dude, if we didn’t agree on this issue beforehand we wouldn’t have gotten married, period.
If my husband changed his mind and decided he wanted babies, I would have no problems divorcing him.
Breaking up is one thing but divorce another. And I would think he would be divorcing you not another way around?
If my husband tried to pressure me into getting pregnant, I am most certainly divorcing him.
I know a couple whose husband changed his mind once they got married, left her and had a kid with another woman. She remarried too and hasnt had kids. It is best to be on the same page.
Lot of familiar faces from Tumblr here tonight…
Including yourself?
Tee Hee!
Nope, never had a Tumblr, not even a particular fan. The skeptics sought me out.
For someone who’s not a fan you sure know a lot of details.
“Not a fan”? The details you know about both Cumby and his wife and your overinvestedness in every Cumberbatch thread say otherwise. Are you paid by the word or the post?
Old news and an old story being recycled. Poulet I’m sure will have children when and if she’s good and ready, which she wasn’t when Cumberbatch was. She’s as committed an actress as he is an actor. And I do so love his comment about “I’d love to be able to juggle a career and a young child.” That might not have been so easy for the young actress as the actor, would it? Luckily for Cumberbatch, he found a woman with no real career so now he has no problem “juggling” a young child and a career: mostly, someone else is doing the juggling, which is what would have happened to Poulet. She gets lots of points in my book and I hope she’s totally happy with her beau. If she and Cumberbatch had been crazy about each other they’d have worked it out.
And Hunter didn’t get pregnant in “early fall”: last time I checked, fall began the third week in September – Hunter was already pregnant by then. She “got” pregnant in late summer.
Frankly, Poulet seems to be to be far more accomplished, more authentic, and less pretentious than Hunter. None of which matters, I guess, as what Cumberbatch needed was a wife/nanny/brood mare whose own life would take a back seat to his. There’s no real story here.
True, all this. And Sophie gets what she wants out of it — which is entitlement.
> And Hunter didn’t get pregnant in “early fall”: last time I checked, fall began the third week in September
You kind of shocked me with this, really. The need to dispute when a woman got pregnant – in summer or fall.
Calendar fall starts 1st of September, and that is what people usually mean when they say “fall” – months of September, October , November.
And how do you even know when she got pregnant – in late or early September, or in October or at some other time.
Do you really not see how extremely creepy this is? Maintaining ovulation calendars for a woman you’ve never met?
E: wrong place
Good for her; hope they’re very happy together.
If the reports of why she and Cumberbatch split up are true, it makes perfect sense. Whether or not to have children, and when, is one of THE biggest life decisions. And if a couple isn’t on the same page about it, splitting up is the best thing, because there is no way to meet in the middle and compromise on that one.
As far as Sophie being pregnant before they got married, hey, his mother was pregnant with him when she married his father. So they are just keeping up family traditions.
Funny about all the pics here featuring closed-mouth smiles. And though the pics here don’t really show it, there are some pics of OP and BC from back in the day that make me wonder if they weren’t both a bit baked at the time.
yeah, they totally made the right call there if that was the case
i was late to the whole Cumberbatch wedding meltdown so Ive never seen him with a different woman. Out of the two he looks better next to Sophie. Appearance wise at least: the height, the facial features, the whole air – they kinda look alike.
Olivia broke up with Cumby on several occasions – one time was when he left to make To The Ends of The Earth. After reading many of his interviews I concluded that the Batch was pretty high maintenance. I’m sure that, along with Sherlock fame, is what prompted the final split. Olivia realized what was coming and didn’t want to be part of the circus. I don’t think Anna wanted it either. I think Sophie was an “oops”-let’s try to make this work. Anyone who thinks this was a long term thing – 3 words. London Film Festival.
To clarify-2014 London Film Festival.
Don’t be silly, everyone knew they were a couple long before then. He only kept it secret so long to protect her from his crazy fans.
I think it is a long term thing, They are well suited.
All the people endlessly trying to prove for so many months that they weren’t serious and it was an oops as you put it just puzzle me. What does believing that she was a casual fling achieves, I don’t get it.
Do some fans want to think that his heart is still “available” or is it that some fans think she is not who they wanted him to marry , so he’ll eventually divorce her and marry someone they approve of ?
@EN-None of us knows and will ever know what happened. The whole thing was just very sudden and weird. I actually get the vibe that they are true partners. I give Sophie kudos for surviving the withering spotlight. Must have been difficult to go from 0 to 120 in front of the world.
But surely it says something that the only people who see it as “obviously” weird and odd are the same people who see how Ben looks “obviously” bad and ill and how they “obviously” can’t stand each other? And how the same people saying those things, are hardcore fans already? People see what they want to see. Regular members of the public just see a normal couple, yes one who had an shotgun wedding, but they don’t see this supposedly “obvious” “fuckery.”
That’s why the skeptics get accused of harassing people so often, because they genuinely believe this “fuckery” and “shamwow” is so obvious, that literally everyone (even people who don’t follow Ben) must see it. Hence the insistence that it’s common knowledge within the industry that it’s a fake marriage, and the name-calling of anyone who doesn’t agree or hasn’t heard of the “shamwow” theories nannies.
@Fluff – “everybody knew they were a couple long before then”. I personally disagree. They’ve known each other for ages, but I think they didn’t start dating until sometime in 2014. She was living in NY until then. He was all over the world. I didn’t say that it was a sham wow, or PR, or f**kery and don’t consider myself a skeptic or hater or nan or whatever the terms are. I do have 2 eyes, though, and the sequence of events just seemed to be a little off. I do think you’re right about him protecting her for as long as possible. I just don’t get the 2014 LFF and how he looked after the engagement and more importantly the pregnancy announcement. Just my take. We all have the right to our opinions, especially on a gossip site. And yes, I think their marriage is going to last.
Regarding comments about wanting Ben free for someone else – let’s face it – a lot of commenters are putting themselves in the “other” place. I look at it differently – absolutely nothing has changed since Ben got married. Repeat – nothing. We all have exactly the same chance to get with him as we ever had. (Hint – zero). And I have a feeling that some of these ladies (or gentlemen) would regret it if they did. Being married to a really famous guy is a LOT of work, not to mention the loss of identity that occurs when you become “the wife of Benedict Cumberbatch”.
I agree. And not only because of the fame, but also because he would never be there. He’s a workaholic and everything else will always take second place, whatever he says. We’ve seen it with Hamlet: stage door almost every night , events, school lectures, the lot.
It’s not a real marriage…and you all fell for the purse! I remember when he was photographed with the odd large purse, recently. A professional spin doctor broke it down, step by step, saying they throw red herrings out to distract people and gloss the marriage image, including throwing left-field, odd pics out, like him with that purse. How many comments were on that string? He has not been himself for in interviews for months. You can compare the pics of him in the past few months, plus there keeps being very well-documented reports of her throwing tantrums in public. They are working together NOW, but its just that…work.