The Crown star Lesley Manville insists she’s content remaining single
‘I like the uncluttered nature of my life’: The Crown star Lesley Manville, 67, insists she’s content staying single because she doesn’t ‘have to consider’ anyone and finds some men ‘needy’
Veteran actress Lesley Manville claims she doesn’t feel like bringing anyone into her life, insisting she’s a perfectly happy bachelor.
The 67-year-old was married to fellow star Gary Oldman, 65, from 1987 to 1990, and Gary ran off with Uma Thurman when their son Alfie was just three months old.
Oscar-nominated star Lesley later divorced actor Joe Dixon, to whom she was married from 2000 to 2004.
And The Crown cast member says she’s happy to be single for now because it means she doesn’t have to think about anyone else, describing herself as having a “control freak side.”
She explained The protector“It sounds awful and I sound a little cold, but if I don’t have anyone home, I don’t have to worry about it.
Single life: Veteran actress Lesley Manville, 67, claims she has no desire to bring anyone into her life, and insists she’s perfectly happy single (pictured this week)
Independent: The Crown cast member says she’s happy to be single for now because it means she doesn’t have to think about anyone else (pictured this month)
“While heat and all that is great for some people, I just think, ‘Well, phew. Thank goodness.’ Because I have so much else to do, from job to job. I like the clarity of my life.’
Explaining why she’s not dating, she continued, “No one asks me. But that is not a problem. I don’t think, come on, where are you, because meeting someone you like enough to say, “I could invest some emotion, some time in this” is…’
Lesley said she looked for different qualities in a man, which she described as a “cocktail” – saying they should be funny, good at their job and independent as she can find some men “needy”.
It comes after Lesley spoke about her successful life on stage and screen and said she owed it all to the sudden collapse of her marriage.
Earlier this year, she told Lauren Laverne of Desert Island Discs that becoming a single parent made her more determined to pursue her own acting dreams.
“I had always envisioned being married to Gary for a long time,” she said.
“We had the most wonderful time together and we loved each other. We are married. I got pregnant on my honeymoon. We had the best time, but then the rug was pulled really hard from under my feet.’
Lesley and her first husband Gary met in 1984, married three years later and divorced in 1990 – the same year he married Pulp Fiction star Uma Thurman.
Looking back: Lesley was married to fellow star Gary Oldman from 1987 to 1990, who left her when their son Alfie was just three months old (Lesley and Gary pictured in 1986)
She said, “I thought we’d be together forever — we’d have a big family. But if that had happened, I might not have had the career I have now.’
Lesley said of the split, “I wasn’t going to break up. There was absolutely no doubt about it for me.
‘I would keep working. And I would also become the most brilliant mother.
“Somehow I did it. It made me incredibly disciplined in my work.’
As seen on screen: Lesley is seen as Princess Margaret in the Netflix series The Crown season 5 in 2016