Charles Dance has revealed his 34-year marriage ended when he honestly told his wife he was ‘succumbing to some temptations’.
The veteran actor, 77, said he had “huge regrets” that his relationship with sculptor Joanne Haythorn ended when they divorced in 2004 after he admitted cheating on her.
The couple – who had two children together, son Oliver, 50, and Rebecca, 44 – married in 1970.
The charismatic Dance blamed his behavior for becoming an unlikely sex symbol after starring in the 1984 TV drama The Jewel in the Crown, when he admitted he had succumbed to his libido.
But he said he is grateful his ex-wife was able to forgive him 18 months after he destroyed their marriage of 30 years and they are now “best friends.”
Charles Dance has revealed his 34-year marriage to Joanne Hayforn (pictured) ended when he honestly told his wife he ‘succumbed to some temptations’
He said he never considered himself attractive, but his eyes started wandering when people started saying he was ‘the thinking woman’s crumpet’ in the 1980s (Photo: Dancing on a beach in Venice in 2020)
Speaking to Gyles Brandreth on the Rosebud podcast, he said: ‘It was a great marriage for the most part, but unfortunately I succumbed to some temptations along the way and the marriage actually ended because of my behavior.’
Dance and Haythorn were living in Somerset and spending their days on different sides of the ‘huge’ house when he told her the news of his cheating past.
“At the end of the day I had to be honest,” he said. ‘Because we lived in Somerset, in this huge place, and Jo had her study on one side and I had mine on the other, and we were a bit like George and Martha (in the play) Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? really after a while.
‘Eventually I came back and thought, ‘really, we need to have a very serious conversation.’ And I had to be honest and it came as a shock to Jo, bless her.”
He told Brandreth that he had never considered himself that attractive, but his eyes began to wander when he starred as Guy Perron in The Jewel in the Crown and people started saying he was “the thinking woman’s crumpet.”
“I always felt very grateful when girls acted like they were attracted to me,” he said. “But there’s no justification for it, you know.
‘In our industry, Gyles, temptations often arise and you have to be nicely balanced and not have a particularly powerful libido not to succumb to them.
The charismatic Dance blamed his behavior for becoming an unlikely sex symbol after starring in the 1984 TV drama The Jewel in the Crown (pictured)
The couple – who had two children together, son Oliver, 50, and Rebecca, 44 – married in 1970
But he said he is grateful his ex-wife was able to forgive him 18 months after he destroyed their three-decade marriage and they are now “best friends.”
‘So the marriage came to an end – huge regret. But after about eighteen months, Jo and I luckily became the best of friends, and we still are, thank goodness.
‘She had a flat not far from where I live and we saw each other quite often, so it all worked out in the end.’
He confessed that it took him a long time to learn the law of cause and effect and that if he could turn back time, he would have done things differently in his marriage.
Dance, who starred in The Crown and Game of Thrones, is known to have had a string of younger girlfriends. He was linked to Emilia Fox before his divorce and dated actress Sophia Myles, who was 33 years his junior, from 2003 to 2005.
Dance later dated model Shambhala Marthe, 26 years his junior. His next love was painter Eleanor Boorman, 25 years his junior. They separated after she gave birth to his daughter at the age of 65.
He found love again with his Italian girlfriend Alessandra Masi, who is 22 years younger than him.
Dance described Masi, 55, as “fantastic” last year when he first told how they met on the set of his film The Book of Vision.
Former actress Ms Masi worked as a production manager on the surreal historical film which was shot on locations in Italy and Belgium.
Three years ago he found love again with his Italian girlfriend Alessandra Masi (photo), who is 22 years younger than him.
Dance described Masi, 55, as “fantastic” last year when he first told how they met on the set of his recently released film, The Book of Vision
He added that the University of Bologna graduate now lives with him most of the time, ‘which I am very happy about’
When asked what his most important memory of the film was, he said: “Honestly, it’s meeting Alessandra.”
He added that the University of Bologna graduate now lives with him most of the time, “which I am very happy about.”
In an interview with The Times, Dance admitted that his joy at meeting her overshadowed the film, saying, “Well, that’s kind of the case. Alessandra is fantastic. I’m very lucky.’
The actor, who maintains his fitness by swimming at Hampstead Heath, told an interviewer in 2019 that he likes “beautiful women”. He added: ‘I love independence, I love strong women, women who survive and thrive in a world that is still male-dominated in most professions.’