Marriage luvvie-style

For years, the marriage of Jeremy Irons and Sinead Cusack has been the subject

Hardly surprising, when he has been pictured in public clinches with young
actresses while she was seen kissing Jeremy Paxman and is said to be close to
playwright Tom Stoppard.

Irons, 56, has until now dismissed any suggestion of infidelity to his wife of
26 years, with whom he has two children.

But he gave a definite-hint of past temptations when he discussed his
‘modern marriage’, declaring: ‘A modern couple give each other the freedom to flirt with new beginnings elsewhere.’

During interviews for his latest film Being Julia, he admitted there were ‘lots’ of similarities between his marriage and that portrayed in the movie.

Based on the novel by W Somerset Maugham, the film is about a married actress — played by Annette Bening — who has an affair with a younger actor only to discover that he is two-timing her with a starlet who in turn is secretly
seeing the actress’s husband — played by Irons.

Asked about the similarities with his own marriage, Irons said: ‘Failures of trust, imagination, relying on each other too much, falling into the trap
of thinking your happiness depends upon the other person, rather than thinking, “No, your happiness depends on me”.’

Warming to his theme he added: ‘If that other person makes you happy, that’s good but you don’t depend on each other.

‘All the things I have learned came out in the film. In the film, they get back together and you think, “They have got through that — their relationship is now stronger.”

‘And that’s what long-term marriages are about. They are really tough. People say to me, “What’s the secret?” And I say, “The secret is to get through
the next day, or sometimes the next hour, or sometimes the next minute.”

‘It needs to be underpinned with a tremendously strong bond. Longevity brings
something special.’

Three years ago Irons was pictured kissing then co-star Patricia Kass outside a London nightclub.

And this month at the Venice Film Festival he was pictured getting cosy with his latest leading lady Lynn Collins, who is appearing with him in The
Merchant Of Venice.