The couple were got married in 1987 but split shortly after Gary met a much younger actress. And despite more than three decades passing since they got divorced, The Crown star couldn’t resist a little dig at her famous ex.
Eve Wagstaff Social Newsdesk Reporter
18:10, 18 Dec 2025
Lesley’s quip about Gary made her and host Stephen Colbert laugh(Image: CBS)
Lesley Manville appeared to throw shade at her ex-husband, Gary Oldman, during a recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
The Crown star was on the US chat show to promote her latest stage role in Oedipus, a 2,500-year-old Greek tragedy she is currently performing in on Broadway.
During the interview, Colbert showed the 69-year-old a photograph of her teenage self, taken when she appeared in Emmerdale in 1975, and asked what advice she would give her younger self.
Manville quipped in response: “Don’t marry an actor!” The comment prompted laughter from both Colbert and the studio audience.
Lesley appeared to shade her ex-husband Gary Oldman(Image: CBS)
The clip was shared on X, formerly Twitter, with the comment: “‘Don’t marry an actor!’ Her (not so) subtle shade to you know who.”
Lesley has been married to two actors; her first marriage was to Hollywood actor Gary Oldman, 67, and the second to Joe Dixon, 60. However, it was her brief affair with Gary that is most widely known.
The pair got together in 1984, married three years later, and had one son together, Alfie, in 1988. However, just three months after he was born, Gary left to pursue a relationship with Uma Thurman, who was just 18 at the time.
Although the pair have managed to stay friends, Lesley has spoken about how devastated she was at the time. Appearing on Desert Island Discs, she told host Lauren Laverne, “We were having the most amazing time together, and we loved each other. We got married. I got pregnant on my honeymoon. We were having the best time, but then the rug was very severely pulled from under my feet…”
Lesley with first husband Gary and their son Alfie(Image: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)Lesley and Gary were together for three years before getting married(Image: Alan Davidson/REX/Shutterstock)
Lesley also revealed that she was initially worried about telling her family that Gary had left, adding that his work made it easier to pretend everything was OK. She went on: “It was quite convenient that Gary was going to the States anyway to do a film, so they knew that he was away.
“I just thought, ‘Oh well, I won’t tell them because maybe in a few months it’ll all be alright.’ But it was a tremendously lonely time.”
Gary went on to marry Kill Bill star Uma briefly from 1990 to 1992, after they met on the set of the film State of Grace. Apparently, Uma dumped the Oscar-winner via a ‘Dear Gary’ letter, saying he was impossible to live with. She later reflected in an interview: “It takes a special kind of woman to put up with him.”
As for Lesley, the Mrs Harris Goes To Paris star married The Mummy Returns actor Joe Dixon in 2000. The marriage ended in divorce in 2004, though the split attracted far less attention than her first.
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