When the photos of Dominic West and Lily James’ Roman affair first came out nine days ago, I thought Dominic’s aristocratic wife Catherine FitzGerald would do what aristocrats always do: pull up the drawbridges, go silent, retreat to the cocoon of wealthy privacy. That is not what happened. Within 24 hours of the affair becoming public, Dominic was back at home with Catherine, and he somehow convinced her to do a damn happy-family photocall outside of their house:
The nation may be facing new chaotic creeping lockdown but here's what everyone really wants to talk about: Dominic West and wife put on united front after THOSE pics of him with Lily James https://t.co/TIjbzitaBq pic.twitter.com/GXSAhyzSgq
— Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) October 13, 2020
Yeah, it was A LOT. And it surprised me that Catherine would agree to it, that she wouldn’t simply retreat and go dark. I think the rumors were probably true about Dominic’s manager (who was there in Rome) and Lily James both calling Catherine and lying to her in the immediate wake of the photos coming out. So now that Catherine has had a week to really absorb her husband’s affair and lies, she’s headed out to her castle in Ireland. Alone.
Dominic West’s wife Catherine Fitzgerald has flown alone to Ireland ‘for on a work trip’ after her husband’s Rome getaway with Lily James, MailOnline can reveal. The Irish landscape gardener has gone to stay with her mother Olga Fitzgerald at the family’s ancestral seat of Glin Castle, Co. Limerick, that they run as a £6,000-a-night events venue.
The 49-year-old mother-of-four flew into Shannon airport in county Limerick in recent days and travelled to her family castle 50 miles away, MailOnline understands. Although she hasn’t been seen in the nearby village, a local source confirmed she was ‘holed up’ at the castle, attempting to escape the attention on her private life. Catherine will have to self-isolate at home for 14 days after arriving from the UK, due to Ireland’s quarantine regulations. It is not thought that her husband will be joining her.
A source told MailOnline: ‘She’s here. She’s just trying to get some rest, totally understandably after what she’s been through. We had photographers here last week but there’s strictly no admittance to the castle grounds and she’s not coming out anyway. The Gardai [police] moved them on. This is her home, her favourite place in the world and she feels safe here. It’s natural that she’d come home to her mother. It must be hell what she’s going through.’
They added: ‘She is absolutely devastated at those pictures and their story will inevitably have a sad ending’.
The Wire actor West today confirmed that his wife had gone to Ireland alone. He said: ‘She’s on a work trip. She’s gone by herself.’ When asked if they are still together, West laughed and said: ‘Of course we are, very much together. Our relationship is fine.’ When asked about his trip to Rome, West replied: ‘It’s nobody’s business.’
A mutual friend of the couple says Catherine has thanked friends for their support over the past week, but hasn’t revealed where she is staying to them. ‘I should imagine she just wants to go to ground for a bit,’ he said.
I really hope she’s left him completely! But I doubt it – it’s more like she just wants some space and time to think about her sh-tty husband and her crazy marriage. It also sounds like she went alone to Ireland and left their four kids in Dominic’s care? I would imagine there’s a nanny somewhere about (and Dominic is probably banging her too). Anyway, I feel sorry for Catherine and I hope she sits in her ancestral castle and decides to divorce his ass.
Here’s the AD video Dominic and Catherine did about her family’s Irish home, Glin Castle.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN.
She really is beautiful. i don’t understand why any woman would have 4 kids with any man. Stop at 2, and live. (my mom had 3, I’m not hating, I just don’t get it, I tell her that too, but to each their won)
HE is really a clown, isn’t he? Laughing? Of course they’re together? Because why? His D is so great his wife won’t leave him no matter how badly he humiliates her? He is really on my last nerve this guy.
Umm maybe she wanted 4 kids as well?
I watched the Ad video and she really is an effortless beautiful woman. She looks natural which is rarer now. He seemed an attention hog in the video. I hope she figures out what will make her the happiest and does that.
She reminds me a LOT of Linda McCartney (Paul McCartney’s first wife for you young’ uns 😊 ).
Looking at that pic of the together, my fingers itch to smack the smug off his face. He’s a pig.
Because some women love being mothers.
I have 4. I love it.
what I never get in situations like this is what does the guy get out of staying with the wife? the safety of not having to marry any of his flings? but doesn’t that.. defeat the purpose?
He gets the comfort of a stable home life with a wife that probably does a lot of the emotional labour for him, who cares for his kids and then the thrill of chasing strange on the side. He will also get the ego boost of her not leaving (probably to hold the kids life together and sunk cost fallacy of being together x years but he will interpret that as him being irresistible to women).
I unfortunately know someone like West, he treated his wife like crap for years, endless number of affairs, he thought he was golden that she would never leave. Until one day she did, she started a new life, lived alone for a few years, the kids were grown and living their own life and one day she met a new man and fell head over heels in love, new man adores her, she seems twenty years younger. Ex is fuming and he has just realized what he had and tossed away, he is now older and young ones don’t fall for his lines anymore.
@zapp – same. Knew someone who CONSTANTLY cheated on his wife with everyone he could find – articling students, court clerks, police officers and a long term affair with a colleague (!?!). His wife finally left
him and all of a sudden he had a crisis. He used to do the “my wife doesn’t understand me” crap and would use it as an excuse to “just have one night stands” even though he would be feigning misery at home to get sympathy from each new batch of conquests. Once the wife was no longer there he was more visibly obviously a pathetic middle aged creep since he couldn’t sustain any meaningful relationships & just wanted to keep running around. I remember he made my life rather difficult when I was one of the few new employees who didn’t fall for his schtick.
My guess is a lot of them want the perfect family image for when that comes in handy, but also a wife to do all the emotional labor of being an adult, raising kids, taking care of a home, etc.
I also suspect, in his case, that he enjoys the lifestyle that her family money affords him. He may be wealthy as an actor, but he’s not multiple-castles wealthy.
I agree with @lucy2, as well. His wife and children provide an image.
Darla, I so agree with you!
I don’t find her pretty or beautiful but infidelity is never about looks. Sad all around
I agree with you. He sounds and acts like a pig. I hope she gets peace and clarity and then dumps him.
I think it’s also to move away from the media frenzy, disconnect and pretend that people don’t know that her husband’s a cheater
Unless this guy is charismatic AF, I really do not see the appeal. What am I missing?
It seems like, from the video, he makes her laugh. That can go a long way with a lot of women.
Also, she seems like a really sweet lady who really knows her stuff (about her home and her garden). I like her.
He and his wife are “very much together.” Uh huh. What a dick.
If she likes it, I love it.
Of course she did and I don’t blame her. The ‘united front’ photos cringeworthy note and kiss were reminiscent of a 1990s MP caught with his pants down.
I imagine he ran home, gaslighted the crap out of her to do that ridiculous photo and note nonsense, and now is trying to make it seem like everything is fine. Her ditching him to go to Ireland isn’t fine.
Shannon airport is in co. Clare.
I think that horrible PR photocall was done while she was in shock. I’m guessing that as she’s had time to think about it, and maybe seen more stories and pics, she’s actually beginning to realize what a douche he has been. Good for her for letting him watch their children for a while and go home to her mom and family home to think things through.
I hate that he shamed his wife publicly–that’s just not okay. She needs to leave him asap. He seems so happy, smiling constantly, but he’s a huge douche, let’s face it. Lily was bad as well in getting involved knowing he was married. I’m glad the both of them have a rash of bad publicity following this. What a total jerk.
Can’t stomach that video. Wanky Anglo Irish aristocracy, showing off this wealth, enjoyed while the rest of the country lived for hundreds of years in poverty.
‘She is absolutely devastated at those pictures and their story will inevitably have a sad ending’ –so maybe Catherine isn’t sticking around his raggedy cheating a*s after all. Being cheated on feels awful, and I can’t imagine how much more painful it feels when there are kids involved. Not that the castle makes things any better, but at least she has somewhere relaxing to get away and be left to her own thoughts without Dominic gaslighting her and convincing her nothing happened.
I don’t get why it’s supposed to be the “aristocratic thing to do” to put up with cheating. A hundred years ago when royals and nobility would get married to strangers for political reasons, okay, sure, live separate lives. But this couple for example chose to get married on their own. I really hope she divorces him.
I agree! They chose to be with one another, so why would his cheating be something she (or any upperclass person for whom this is ‘the norm’) chose to put up with? She’s the one with the money and the title, so its not like she’s hanging on to him to still have access to a wealthy lifestyle. I just don’t get it.
Every time I see a story on them I think of the poster who last week wrote that she knows the family and that the wife knows all about his infidelities (mainly with local college students) as well as his raging alcoholism and while not happy about it, accepts it. What I want to know is: WHY?!?!?! It always pains me when a woman just accepts a pig husband’s errant ways. This woman is rich and beautiful and is not forced to stay. And by staying, she is teaching her children that this is normal behavior and what they too should learn to accept with their own future spouses. Maybe this is what she herself was taught?
Maybe staying to protect her kids, would anyone really be happy to split and have custody issues with an active alcoholic? At least if they are together she can limit the impact on the kids and doesn’t have to leave him in sole charge of them at his visitation times ( I know that nannies will be actually caring for the kids but how much can an employee act against an employer in the best interests of the kids while keeping their job)
Look, I’m all for jetting off to your massive castle to lay on your antique fainting couch and have warm tea brought to you by servants for weeks at a time, but lady! YOU HAVE FOUR SMALL KIDS WHO DIDN’T ASK FOR ANY OF THIS!
I’m not saying she needs to start doing daily pap strolls or absurd kissing photos calls, but she can’t just bounce to another country and leave them with the nannies to deal with the fall out.
(Because no, I do not believe for a second that 51 year old playboy Dominic West is off work and home every day taking care of four small kids by himself.)
Uh-they’re with their father, who clearly has been jetting off doing whatever the F he wanted. High time he step up and parent. I’m not going to shame her for taking a break! And we have NO idea about how long she’s going to be away from her kids. For all we know, they could be heading to Ireland too.
If she gets caught up in a lockdown during the current second wave though, she could be separated from her young children for a lot longer than she thinks. I don’t know about this…
Her mother could need her help for all we know. I just got a text saying my dad (in another country) spent the day in the hospital. I’m going to give this woman the benefit of the doubt because as a middle aged woman with kids and elderly parents I know what it’s like to be pulled in different directions and that’s without a cheating spouse. Geez, why don’t you pile on a bit more.
If he’s been jaunting around in Europe without the kids, then she is also entitled to take a break from them. I feel for the kids in this situation, it must be very hard for your dad to be in the papers kissing a lady who’s not your mother, in front of the whole world. But she deserves time to herself, she’s just as entitled to it as he is, and it’s probably necessary for her to take that time in order to take care of herself. If the mom takes care of herself, then she will have enough energy to take care of the kids. There’s more to her than just being a mom.
I think she is beautiful and seems like an intelligent, lovely person. He was really punching above his weight when he set his sights on her. I really liked the AD video of them at her castle – I remember watching it when it first came out. He certainly seemed to love living there, didn’t he?
Stupid, stupid man. And it’s especially terrible that he’d be so publicly unfaithful to the mother of his very young children. I hope she really makes him twist in the wind a bit – and I REALLY hope that she has a good pre-nup protecting her assets. He strikes me a bit as a charming gold digger.
Ireland is about to go back into lockdown so maybe she’ll be there awhile. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if West and James go back to creeping around again while wife’s away. What a mess.
If James really wants to look pathetic, that would be a good way to do it. That’ll finish her off for sure.
I said this yesterday and I’ll say it again: Fire the manager, who is a posh Englishwoman married to an Italian movie star. Paparazzi would have been clued into her, with Dominic and Lily as an extra added surprise when they saw her. So dumb. And Catherine is no doubt hurt by that betrayal too — managers often become an extension of the family (based on what I have observed from family members of two separate stars that I know.)
Catherine is gorgeous. It may have been an arrangement, or not, either way it still has to hurt. Screw Dominic and Lily!
Agreed.
When I am angry I often retreat to one of my other castles as well 😉 I just do not understand that world at all. The upper crust European society has very different rules about what is acceptable behavior. I am pretty sure he broke “the rules” though. I assumed never humiliating your spouse was one of them
The AD video: I bet she now regrets not running him over with her car.
He clearly thinks he is adorable. I disagree.
Maybe she doesn’t believe in divorce and he’s either taking advantage of that, or trying to force her hand.
Their press meet really reminded me of how the wives of just-caught-cheating Tory MPs in the 80s used to respond to scandal. She’s probably just having a non-modern reaction. She is alleged to have been gaslit beforehand and seems old-fashioned. Nothing wrong with that.
He seems to be quite confident – I am sure he thinks himself a ladies’ man and would shack up with many mistresses as did the guy in the painting they discussed. Personally, I don’t see the appeal – I find him arrogant and unattractive.
She is quite beautiful. She needs to flush him down the toilet.
Good for her! She deserves far better than him. I heard a horror story 3 years ago from journalist about Dominic being super creepy at a press event
Well, we’re entering our second lockdown here in Ireland tonight for the next six weeks at least. We are well and truly in our second wave and I could honestly do without more English people flying over here for R&R when my friends are stuck in England unable to come home to Ireland as they are being responsible and self-isolating for two weeks is unrealistic for them and yet they haven’t seen their families since last year. Her flying over REEKS of privilege!
That kiss picture between Dominic and his wife is so awkward, if you zoom in you can see they completely missed eachother’s lips loll
She deserves better and I hope she finds it before too long.
I hope she is literally taking a break and getting some rest. It’s okay to focus on you when you are dealing with shock. Her children do not have to be her focus 100% of the time. I remember my mom left without warning right before my senior prom and I was furious with her. I felt like she abandoned me during an important milestone. Later in life I asked her why and she said she had just gotten a medical diagnosis and wanted to be with her sister to get her head around it. I resented her as a kid but I understand now she had to put herself first sometimes. That made her a better mother.