Ewan McGregor and Eve Mavrakis started their family when they were very young. Their daughter Clara McGregor is already 22 years old, which is why I feel okay about discussing the McGregor family’s drama, because they’re adults. Last year, Ewan very publicly left Eve. He had been having an affair with his Fargo costar Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and they were “caught” in public, openly feeling each other up or whatever. Soon Ewan filed for divorce and Eve was quite caustic in her reaction to all of it. It was clear that this was not some conscious uncoupling, and there were a lot of hurt feelings all around. Clara has been on social media for months, dealing with some of the drama. A few months ago, Clara commented on someone’s Instagram – the IG was about Ewan and Mary Elizabeth and how Mary Elizabeth is beautiful and talented. Clara commented: “Most beautiful and talented woman on earth? Oh man y’all are delusional. The girl is a piece of trash x.” Well, Clara has a new interview with the Times and she talks about what happened:
Calling Winstead a ‘piece of trash’: “It wasn’t the most mature way to go about things, but I was angry and upset… there had been a lot building up to it and a lot to deal with — not to make excuses or anything — but, yeah, it wasn’t my finest moment. I kept being tagged in this photograph and I was seeing negative things about my mom. I said how I felt and I didn’t want to apologise for it. It wasn’t the right way to go about things, but it’s a hard thing to wrap your head around when you feel you had this idea of what the family unit is and then to have that shift. It’s very weird.”
She knew her parents were having issues before Ewan’s affair with Mary Elizabeth went public: “We had already started dealing with it and trying to cope. It was incredibly surprising to me that they had gone out in public,” she said, adding that “the picture surfaced on my little sister’s birthday…But my dad didn’t know it was going to come out. He didn’t want us to see that, but, you know, there were paparazzi following them around.”
She’s still close to both of her parents: While the model and actress went on to share “that I have my mom’s back in this — fully,” she made it clear that she’s “still very close to my dad…I love him and I always will. The relationship’s not going to end because of this. We are incredibly close and despite me strongly disagreeing with how he’s gone about things, I’ll always love him, and I hope he’s happy, you know?”
I’m fine with what she says here and I understand that it’s been hard for her, especially because she wants to defend her mom and stand up for her mom publicly and privately. Eve seems super-private about everything, and I bet she hates that any of this became public anyway. I still think Clara probably just loathes “daddy’s new girlfriend” and blames Mary Elizabeth for her parents’ split. That’s a visceral emotional reaction and I understand it. But Clara will probably understand more as time goes by – Mary Elizabeth didn’t take Ewan away from her mom. Ewan chose to cheat, get caught and break up the family. It sucks and it’s messy and I feel bad for all the McGregor kids.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
“While the model and actress went on to share “that I have my mom’s back in this — fully,” she made it clear that she’s “still very close to my dad…I love him and I always will. The relationship’s not going to end because of this. We are incredibly close and despite me strongly disagreeing with how he’s gone about things, I’ll always love him, and I hope he’s happy, you know?””
I think that’s a pretty healthy mindset, honestly. And I don’t blame her for the ‘trash’ comment – it was fresh, and it hurt. I’d have said worse as a non-famous person, I’m sure, so I’m impressed that she held back as much as she did. It’d be so much worse dealing with this kind of thing in the public eye, though. I feel awful for her. But I do understand that she still loves her dad, and I think she probably DOES want him to be happy, just like she wants her mom to be happy – she’s just (justifiably) angry that it happened the way that it did.
I think she explained herself quite well. A healthy, mature response.
The thing is it wasn’t fresh when she made the comment. It’s not a mature thing to do, but I get that response if it was weeks after the affair. However, it was several months after the affair. Plus, I’m pretty sure she wasn’t tagged in it as the original post was making the rounds and that would’ve been mentioned if she was tagged.
TLDR. She sounds mature and she’s like she’s handling it well now, but I still think searching out your dad’s mistress’s fan page to rant publicly on it several several months after the affair was not an initial healthy response. Maybe someone told her that and it’s why she’s handling it far better now.
To be fair, while Mary is trashy Ewan is on another level. He repeatedly cheated on his wife, doesn’t anyone remember those pictures of him holding hands with that French actress and kissing her in Paris. I was always surprise that was never a bigger tabloid story, but then I get he’s never been a favorite of the tabloids. I don’t really believe it was a surprise, because he’s been openly screwing around for many years.
I get what you’re saying but she even says above that she didn’t seek out her fan page. She was constantly being tagged in it which means you get notifications about it. She felt trapped and finally gave them the response they wanted.
Is daddy forcing her to say nice things about his midlife crisis now? She still is quite clear on the fact there was a cheating and conflict caused by her father to her mother and the family.
She’s certainly entitled to her anger about the situation.
They’re both trash.
Her dad is a also a piece of trash, actually he is a bigger one because not only was he married at the time of the affair but he also had kids and he cheated anyway.
He’s basically a pretty famous actor and was out openly with his side piece on his daughter’s birthday? Naw, no way he could have known he’d get nailed and wreck it for her!
Sigh. Maximum douchebro.
I think she is pretty mature and is dealing with the situation at the public eye the best way she can. If people said bad thinga about my mom while proping up my father’ mistress, I would be pissed too. I agree that McGregor was the married one and holds more responsability, but he should have known better on how to deal with the situation and how it would affect his children and someone he spent decades with. Even if there wasn’t cheating (that we know that happened), he owned his wife respect and owned to protect her and his children from gossip and scrutinity. And yeah, he is the one who was married, cheated and left his wife, but let’s not take out Winstead’s responsability on it as if McGregor is the only one to blame. It takes two to cheating and I think Winstead is far from being a inocent woman, since she had a partner as well.
I think mary elizabeth was married at the times as well
Then she really is no better than Ewan at all. They both had responsibilities to other people that they betrayed.
Can’t say I blame her. I know we say over and over that it’s the cheating partner’s fault, but I still have zero respect for the “other man/woman” who knowingly plays a role in the demise of a family. It *is* trashy. Ewan is just trashier.
Yes this ^^. It doesn’t have to be either/or. Both people in a cheating relationship are awful. The party with the spouse is the one who is breaking commitments and promises, but the other party (the one who ignores or discounts the aforementioned promises) is just as tacky and gross in my opinion.
Just *end* things properly before jumping into a new relationship. You are not Tarzan – you can let go of that branch
She’s pretty nice to make up with him publicly.
I think anger towards the “outsider” in the relationship is normal, it can take a long time to make sense of why a loved one cheated and it can be hard to wrap your head around the fact that you did not know a person you loved as well as you thought. I think most peoples first instinct when faced with infidelity (either their own relationship or with people they know) is disbelief that the person they are close to could do such a thing. Even when you are not the hurt partner you still feel cheated in a way.
I have been in both spots (cheated on after a 16 year relationship and my brother just cheated on his wife and imploded his marriage and family) and I would not want to cope with those things in the public eye. It makes you question everything, you doubt which feelings and loving moments were real or lies.
TLDR: Cheaters hurt a lot of people for not much gain.
I truly don’t understand the excuses people make for cheating. If the marriage is in a rough patch, grow balls and talk to your partner and try to fix it or end it before someone do something stupid. And then there are the ones who do it just for fun. I don’t get it. We should have more empathy and make the effort to not do with others what we would not like to be done with us. I hope everything works out in your family.
In my own case I heard some absolute belters of excuses for why he cheated and I think he just never got what the long term consequences would be for me. I have two years of illness after I discovered his infidelity and I am just starting to get back on my feet now, I ended up being diagnosed and treated for PTSD.
As for my brother I feel like I don’t really know who this person is anymore, I never thought him capable of what he has done, he had an ongoing affair with a close friend of his wife and now acts surprised that his wife and adult children are hurt and want distance from him, he has decided that he is happy now and that they should be happy for his happiness. How is it fun to hurt someone you say you once loved, treating people with kindness and decency should not be this difficult.
@ Zapp Brannigan the absolute selfishness of cheaters is breath taking. They never pause to think of the emotional carnage and deep seated trust issues they leave behind. Wishing you and your family peace and healing.
I hope you work on yourself and take care of yourself. Things will get better for sure and I’m so sorry for what you had to deal with. As I said, it would be simple if we didn’t do with other what we wouldn’t like to have been done with us. Cheaters should ask themselves: hiw would I feel if my partner did this with me? And if my children discover? It’s not difficult to actually think about others. About your brother. I can’t fanthom how he can’t even see that what he did is wrong and the fact that it was with someone close to the family makes it worse. At least their children seem to be supporting their mom, because I’ve seem children siding with the cheater because of money. I guess that people have many layers. We can be able to do good things but hurt a lot the ones around us.
@Zapp: I too have been cheated on, 3 times in 3 different relationships. I can’t get my head around why a woman would willingly have an affair with a married man, no matter how bad the marriage is – aren’t we women supposed to be supportive of each other instead of stabbing each other in the back? I say this because one of the women who cheated with my former partner was actually a friend. When I found out I was sick for months so I understand the torment you suffered. It’s the ultimate insult, humiliation and hurt all at once.
I don’t excuse Ewan’s cheating, and I feel horrible for his girls, but this divorce was absolutely going to happen. I wish he had handled things like less of a disgusting, cheating, lying, insensitive pr*ck, but oh well. I am not a fan of Eve and can’t believe they managed to stay married for as long as they did. I imagine that was largely down to Eve saying, “I refuse to divorce” as he tried to break up with her. She is…a piece of work. I imagine he told Mary Elizabeth aaaalll sorts of half-truths about the state of his marriage as well, and then she got caught up in this crap, because he also is a reaaaaal piece of work. Gosh, just thinking about Ewan or Eve makes me feel sad for their kids. They are both awful. Ewan’s just the one who *actually* did something wrong.
Oh whats the story with Eve, I never really heard or read much about her.
What do you know about Eve that makes her awful? And you really Mary Elizabeth is that innocent? She was in a relationship too.
Yeah, you can’t leave us with that and go hehe! Tell us more, we’re all listening…
MEW would go to his house and have dinners with his family. I’m sure she wasn’t that far in the dark about the true state of his marriage
Oh wow- in that top pic the dress is totally transparent. I would be really uncomfortable standing next to my dad with my nips out, but to each his own …
I thought they were darts or something at first. That is very strange.
Am I the only one who is sort of over the ‘don’t blame the mistress, blame the man’ thing? Like of course, he chose to cheat and it’s totally his fault-but the woman knew he was married and chose to ingratiate herself into a married man’s life. There are millions of men in the world and thousands of handsome men in Hollywood. In this case, it seems more private, which is good, because if my boyfriend left his wife and kids for me, I would keep my head down a little.
YASSS. I totally agree. I’m sure he told her stories that made her feel better about what she was doing, but I also think she knew it was wrong and chose to do it anyway. I hate it when people say things like “well those weren’t her vows so she didn’t do anything wrong.” False. As a human being and a woman, she consciously played a part in hurting another person for her own desire. She was complicit and when it came out how hurt his family was by this, she chose to stay with him.
In my opinion, the whole “he’s the one who cheated, he’s the one who said vows” is just a line that “other women” use to feel better about their behavior so they don’t have to look at the damage they contributed to.
I don’t think an adult in control of her faculties should ever be absolved of responsibility for the choices she makes, but I understand the “don’t blame the mistress” mindset because too often the women in the situation take all the blame while the man walks away scot free. They’ll blame the wife for not being enough to satisfy her husband and the mistress for being a trashy whore, but meanwhile the guy who said vows whistles away the down street. So I lean on the side of “don’t blame the mistress” because ultimately it’s on him to uphold his vows and responsibilities as a husband. Ewan blew up his marriage, and to MEW I say, “Girl you bonked a married man, now you have to deal with his upset children. Them’s the breaks.” Ewan is responsible for *his* marriage, but that doesn’t mean MEW is going to have a rose strewn path with his kids.
that makes sense! in my mind, there’s plenty of blame to go around. but i see your point, the media are writing a story and they tend to keep it pretty one track and make it about the other woman. what i really don’t get, are the people who think she literally didn’t do anything wrong. that just baffles me.
It’s also a little bit about recognizing that the buck stops with the married individual. I love my husband but I am not blind, I see attractive people everyday. Ultimately it’s on me to respect the promise I made and not cheat. A hot guy could be grinding on me at the club but the buck stops with me. I don’t think it’s so much people not thinking MEW did anything wrong, but about recognizing no matter what temptation she represented, it was on Ewan not to step out. Of course people should respect other people’s relationships, but ultimately the only person who can maintain your fidelity is you. I see a lot of people giving MEW side eye, including Ewan’s children, but at the end of the day Ewan McGregor wrecked his marriage, not anyone else.
I agree. I think for so long the mistress would be the only one blamed, which was unfair, and then the pendulum swung far in the opposite directly, where it would be “don’t blame the mistress, blame the married man.” Nah, we can blame both the married person, male or female, and the person they cheated with, male or female.
+1
No, no, no. Adultery is a “crime” that needs an accomplice. So yeah, Ewan is the main perpertrator but ME is his accomplice. There is no moral highground in helping someone cheat. It is a sign of bad faith and bad character.
Adultery is not a crime…. The fk??
It is in the military. You can be dishonorabley discharged for it
You clearly missed the ” around the word crime. Re-read the post.
Eve has not been that private about it. She has made comments to paparazzi and replied to people on Instagram. One said that they were all (her and the kids) looking after each other and trying to get past the worst betrayal. There were a few more and they made me like Eve a lot. Seems like she has closed ranks around her 4 daughters and they all have a fun time together.
Wonder when ME will face the music in an interview.
Clara has also said she has never met her and has no interest in doing so. Looks like Ewan will have a lot of juggling to do.
My takeaway is that yes she’s hurt that her dad and Mary whatever cheated and we’re messy, but that Mary on top Of it has been a dick. Doesn’t mean her dad isn’t either because of course he is but that Mary has apparently gone above and beyond the normal affairee duties. I think we don’t know the half of it.
Clara’s statement about never meeting MEW totally confirms that all those rumors about MEW coming over for family dinners and stuff were false. Also, she admits that her parents were already having issues. That marriage was probably over a long time ago and Ewan finally decided to formally end things; as opposed to staying married and continuing to cheat.
Well since Clara is an adult, it is logical to think that she wasn’t living at home at the time. The younger kids probably met MEW. Sorry it takes two and both are to blame for this.
@ Patti
Marriages at one time or the other will have issues, that’s normal. However the mental gymnastics you are doing in trying to justify this is mind boggling but carry on.
Clara wasn’t living in the house so wasn’t there for the dinners, hence it doesn’t prove it false at all. Also, Ewan chose to stay married and cheat, clearly his marriage wasn’t over. As he didn’t file for divorce.
Oh the irony, McGregor always said he wouldn’t let his kids be filmed to protect their privacy…now his kids are trashing him and his gf on the internet – and Clara’s been “modelling” for Playboy….so much for privacy…what a twat…
Lol this due is pathetic, needs to have his jedi stripes return Asap…he basically replaced his old lady with a fresher and younger variation..burnn
It’s enough to make one swear off the gossip sites. I wish the characters I love were more virtuous in real life. Maybe that’s why the studio system in the 40s and 50s was so busy sanitizing the player’s lives. Not that it was right, it was terrible, but they knew the fans fell in love with an image, not a real person. I’ll just have to adore ObiWan and ignore Ewan.
Her anger is understandable, but it’s also good she realized it wasn’t the best thing to do. Her responses here are well said and mature.
There’s no need for apology, she got it right the first time.