Thandiwe Newton shows off her new heart chest tattoo as she receives the Deauville Talent Award

Thandiwe Newton revealed a new chest tattoo as she received the Deauville Talent Award during the 48th Deauville American Film Festival in France on Tuesday.

The actress, 49, showed off the new ink of a drawing of a human heart while stunning in a plunging pink blazer suit.

She also debuted a chic bob haircut, and wore a pair of platform black heels, as she proudly held up her award.

She has reportedly been urged to seek mental health support following the break-up of her marriage to Ol Parker – and was allegedly involved in a bust-up with Magic Mike co-star Channing Tatum over Will Smith ‘s Oscars slap – which she has denied. 

It comes after Thandiwe was branded ‘crazy’ by the step-father of her toyboy lover Lonr, 25.

Heart front and centre: The actress, 49, showed off the new ink of a drawing of a human heart while stunning in a plunging pink blazer suit 

The star is reportedly living with musician Lonr following her recent split from husband of 16 years Ol.

Now the step-father of Lonr – real name Elijah Dias – has spoken out on the surprise romance, insisting the rapper won’t settle down with Thandiwe.

Speaking to The Sun from his New York home, Jimmy Varner, 58, said his family found out about their romance through pictures in the media.

Jimmy is the ex-husband of Elijah’s mum Mikelyn Roderick, 63. He said that the whole family found out about the romance through media reports. 

He said: ‘Lord have mercy on her – and him. She looks crazy as hell to me. All the pretty ones are crazy like that.

‘But when he’s ready to settle down and be having kids, he ain’t going to settle for her.

Elijah said that he is not concerned by the 24 year age gap between the pair, explaining: ‘Look, he knows what to do with an older woman, I’m not worried about the age gap. He’s mature, he can handle himself… she had better be ready for him.’

Uh-oh: She has reportedly been urged to seek mental health support following the break-up of her marriage to Ol Parker

Oops: She was allegedly involved in a bust-up with Magic Mike co-star Channing Tatum over Will Smith ‘s Oscars slap – which she has denied

Looking good: The Hollywood star commanded attention while strolling with a dapper man

 Patriotic: The British star held up the American flag during the photo opportunity

Important: She stood behind a wooden fence with her name on it 

It was reported the Line Of Duty star is ‘living with 25-year-old musician Lonr’, following the pair’s recent public display of affection in Malibu, and wants ‘everyone to know’ about the romance.

The actress is said to be acting like a ‘love-struck teenager’ while pals close to the star have claimed Ol was ‘blindsided’ by her new romance.

A source told The Sun: ‘Thandiwe has been staying with Elijah in LA and is acting like a smitten teenager. Her wedding ring is off and it seems she has fallen for him.

‘Thandiwe seems like she can’t get enough of Elijah. When he isn’t working, he is with Thandiwe. They are very much a couple and Elijah is acting like the perfect boyfriend.

Family: She and Ol share three children Ripley, 21, Nico, 17, and Booker, eight (pictured with her husband and daughters in 2019)

‘She isn’t hiding this romance. She wants everyone to know about it.’

Thandiwe has been liking and commenting on the rapper’s social media posts since at least January 2020. However, there is no suggestion they had a relationship back then.

The young musician has insisted Thandiwe’s number one priority is the welfare of her three children.

Lonr has broken his silence on the pair’s relationship, insisting Thandiwe is still focused on the upbringing of her children with the filmmaker – Ripley, 21, Nico, 17, and Booker, eight.

Estranged: It has been reported that Thandiwe has been suffering with emotional and family problems after separating from her husband (pictured together in 2018)

He told Page Six: ‘From the relatively short time I’ve been fortunate to spend with her, I know Thandiwe and Oliver care deeply about the welfare of their children. That’s all I care about right now.’

Thandiwe and the rapper’s professional paths crossed in 2021 when Lonr collaborated with Amber Mark on the track Save My Love.

The song subsequently appeared in the trailer and on the soundtrack for the film Reminiscence, in which the actress starred alongside Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Ferguson.

Thandiwe has reportedly been urged to seek mental health support following the break-up of her marriage – and the alleged bust-up with Magic Mike co-star Channing over Will Smith ‘s Oscars slap – which she has denied.

Fling: The step-father of Lonr – real name Elijah Dias – spoke out on their surprise romance, insisting the rapper (pictured in 2021) won’t settle down with Thandiwe

Thandiwe went on to praise Channing in a post shared recently, hailing him as the ‘loveliest’ amid their reported feud.

The actress shared a slew of bizarre Instagram posts recently after pictures emerged of the star visiting a cannabis store in Malibu.

The actress paid a visit to marijuana dispensary High Tide last month in the Californian city – where the drug is legal for recreational and medicinal purposes.

It has been a turbulent period for the Hollywood film star who has been recently replaced in Magic Mike 3 by Salma Hayek following reports of a ‘bust-up’ with leading man Channing.

It has also been said that Thandiwe has been suffering with emotional and family problems after separating from her husband Ol, 52.

Over the weekend, the star took to social media to share snaps larking around with a pear before professing her love for children’s TV character Worzel Gummidge.

Posing makeup-free while holding onto a pear, she wrote: ‘Pears, man. *Swoon* You feel me? Slow Food. Seasonal Picking. Harmony.’

She added, ‘Ubuntu’, a way of life made famous by Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu that is based on the concept that you should live harmoniously alongside each other, and is rooted in the lessons learned by the post-apartheid South Africa community.

The mother-of-three went on to share a picture of fictional scarecrow Worzel Gummidge who she quipped should become Prime Minister.

From a Cornwall upbringing to  a Hollywood star: Thandiwe’s 30-year career and 24-year marriage 

Born in London, Newton grew up in Penzance, Cornwall, where her parents – her dad is white British, her mother black, from Zimbabwe – sent her to a Catholic school. 

She said of her school years: ‘I was aware that I didn’t fit. I was the black, atheist kid in the all-white, Catholic school run by nuns’.

She went on to study at Cambridge University, where she read anthropology.

Her screen career began as a teenager with the 1991 film Flirting marking her debut. 

At just 22 she appeared in major movie Interview With A Vampire, opposite To Cruise and Brad Pitt.  She later reunited with Cruise in the 2000 movie Mission Impossible 2. 

Newton’s early acting years were marked with sexual abuse. When she was 16 she was groomed by director John Duigan, who was 39 years old at the time. 

The violations by Duigan lasted five years, two of those years were termed a ‘relationship’ after he sought Newton’s parents’ blessing for her to be his girlfriend when she was 18. 

Two years after meeting Duigan, at the age of 18, another director told the actress to intimately touch herself during an audition. Newton obliged, as there was also a female casting director present.

But years later, she discovered the unnamed man had kept her tape and was playing it at poker games for other Hollywood elite.

Following the violating discovery, Thandiwe began to fight the abuse and call it out – an act that cost the actress many jobs.  

Alongside her movie career she’s had long-running roles in the likes of ER and her lead part in Westworld.  

 She met husband Ol in 1997 and said it was love at first sight. 

At the time Ol was a screenwriter and had penned In Your Dreams, which featured the actress.

‘He was on set every day and I fell madly in love with him,’ she told InStyle Magazine.

‘When I met Ol, I was dating a really sweet, lovely man and I had to leave him straight away, even though I wasn’t even going out with Ol’.

‘But as soon as I met Ol, it kind of cut off any other blood vessels to anywhere else.’

She went on to marry Ol in 1998. The couple share three children: Ripley, 21, Nico, 17, and Booker, eight.

The actress was previously credited as Thandie Newton before she reverted to the original spelling of her name three decades after it was misspelled in her first film.

She revealed that Thandie was a careless misspelling in the credits of her first movie – the 1991 Australian film Flirting, co-starring Nicole Kidman and Noah Taylor – and it has stuck ever since. 

‘That’s my name. It’s always been my name. I’m taking back what’s mine,’ she told British Vogue in April 2021.