The curse of Love Actually as stars fall on hard times (2024)

It's one of Britain's most beloved films, that has become a Christmas TV staple and guaranteed feel-good watch.

Yet two decades on from Love Actually, the cast of the romantic comedy have not been blessed with the fairytale endings their characters received.

From breakups, public scandals and even untimely deaths, the Love Actually cast have had very varied fates.

This week, Martine McCutcheon became the latest star to suffer hardship - revealing that her husband Jack McManus has left her after 18 years together.

Now MailOnline takes a look at the curse of Love Actually.

Martine McCutcheon

Martine McCutcheon played unlucky-in-loveNatalie who ultimately found her Prince Charming in the form of David, the Prime Minister (Hugh Grant).

Yet it wasn't meant to be in real life for Martine, who on Thursdayrevealed her husband Jack McManus has left her after 18 years together.

The couplemarried in 2012in Italy's picturesque Lake Como, five years after they started dating, and went on welcome son Rafferty, nine.

Martine, 48, shared the shock announcement while on a'much needed' holiday in Marbella with their son, and insisted that she and Raffertywill always 'root for' Jack, 40, going forward.

Fans were left in disbelief by the news as it came just three weeks after she shared a gushing birthday post to Jack on August 4 and revealed he was grieving the death of his father.

The EastEndersicon penned:'After much thought and consideration, Jack has decided it's best for us to separate after 18 years together and I accept his decision.'

She continued:'We are both so very blessed and grateful for our beautiful, 9 year old son Rafferty, who's happiness and welfare, has always been, and will continue to be, our number 1 priority.

'We both of course, still cherish and look forward to being parents together to our wonderful boy for the rest of our lives...

'Whilst this decision has evolved over a period of time, we are still finding our new way forward as a family and kindly ask for some privacy at this time... Especially for our little boy.

'Our love for Rafferty, is something that will never, waver, or change and we obviously want to protect him and help him feel as safe and secure as possible.

'Many thanks in advance for your respect and support, at this difficult time...

'And I continue to send Jack, all the love, luck and happiness for the next chapter of his. Rafferty and I (as always,) are rooting for you!

'Thank you all, for the love and support, now and always...Martine.xx.'

Colin Firth

Colin Firth playedJamie, a heartbroken writer who ends up leaving Britain after discovering his girlfriend is having an affair with his brother.

Having fled to France to write, he ends up falling in love with his Portuguese housekeeper Aurélia (Lúcia Moniz) and despite not being to speak each other's languages, the pair fall in love.

Colin's real life ended up spookily mirroring his character's as he was also left heartbroken after his wife Livia ended up having an affair.

The couple split in 2019 after 22 years of marriage, and have two sons, Luca and Matteo.

A statement from their publicists read: 'Colin and Livia Firth have separated. They maintain a close friendship and remain united in their love for their children.

'They kindly ask for privacy. There will be no further comment'.

Their split came a year after it was alleged to have had a year-long affair with Italian journalist Marco Brancaccia.

She sparked a police investigation after claiming her childhood friend Mr Brancaccia harassed her with a 'frightening' barrage of messages.

The Oscar-winner confronted his wife over a 'heartbreaking and malicious' email from her ex-lover in March 2018.

The message contained revelations 'designed to wound' the King's Speech star - who has maintained a dignified silence over the affair.

At the time, a friend of the actor said: 'This guy Marco basically told Colin everything he had been doing with his wife for a year. The email was a detailed diatribe, humiliated Colin and was designed with no other motive than to wound.

'He described intimate meetings that would devastate any husband – no matter what the state of their marriage. And he did so with the misguided and hopeless belief he could destabilise the efforts being made by Colin and Livia to sort things out.

'Colin presented this to his wife and in what must have been a very difficult confrontation. But he is the man that he is and has maintained his dignity throughout.'

As well as the email to Colin, his wife claims she received phone calls, lived in terror and believed she was being followed.

Livia also said emails containing pictures of her were sent to her 57-year-old husband after the pair reunited.

But Mr Brancaccia, 55, told The Times that Livia had invented the claims to cover up their affair, which happened between 2015 and 2016.

A spokesman for the couple at the time said: 'A few years ago Colin and Livia privately made the decision to separate. During that time Livia briefly became involved with former friend Mr Brancaccia. The Firths have since reunited.

'Subsequently, Mr Brancaccia carried out a frightening campaign of harassment over several months, much of which is documented. For obvious reasons, the Firths have never had any desire to make this matter public.'

Colin has since found love again withTV writer, Maggie Cohn,after they fell for each other on the set of his 2022 drama, The Staircase.

Hugh Grant

Hugh Grant playedDavid, the Prime Minister who is finding his feet as the new leader of the country before finding love with his secretary Natalie (Martine McCutcheon).

Unlike his co-stars, Hugh's biggest scandal came before he landed a role in the romcom.

In 1995 Hugh was famously arrested near Sunset Boulevard after paying around £45 ($60) for Divine to perform oral sex on him in his car.

The star was dating model Elizabeth Hurley at the time, and said the act was performed in his car after he didn't have enough money to take Divine - real name Estella Marie Thompson - to a hotel.

In a statement at the time Hugh said: 'Last night I did something completely insane. I have hurt people I love and embarrassed people I work with. For both things I am more sorry than I can ever possibly say.'

Hugh was sentenced to a fine of $1,000 (£761) and ordered to attend an education programme about Aids,

Brown was sentenced to 180 days in prison for engaging in lewd conduct in a public place, and had also violated her probation for previous prostitution charges.

She went onto make around $1 million through the publicity surrounding the scandal.

Hugh has been able to laugh off the scandal, however, and in 2019 he hit back atcritics of his political views by tweeting his famous mugshot.

At the time, the star was being a vocal campaigner of tactical voting in the General Election, but faced backlash from Labour supporters for his newfound support of the party.

Hugh captioned his tweet: 'To my dear trolls. Hope this is helpful. Now you have more time to spend with mummy.'

Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson played widower Daniel who was struggling to cope with the loss of his wife while also trying to care for his stepson Sam (Thomas Sangster).

Tragically, three years later, Liam lost his wife in real life, Natasha Richardson.

Natasha died aged 45 of an epidural hematoma on March 18, 2009, two days after she sustained a head injury during a skiing accident.

The English actress, who had appeared in Hollywood films such as The Parent Trap and Maid In Manhattan, was taking a beginner's skiing lesson when the accident happened.

She wasn't wearing a helmet and had initially said she felt fine before her condition deteriorated back at her hotel an hour later.

Liam rushed to her side, and she was then flown under intensive care to New York where she died two days later in hospital with her family, including her mother Vanessa and sister Joely, at her bedside.

A post mortem revealed that Natasha died from bleeding in her skull caused by the fall on a ski slope in Mont Tremblant.

The couple's sons Micheál and Daniel were 13 and 12, respectively at the time.

In 2018, Micheal changed his surname to Richardson to honour his late mother and to 'keep her close'.

Liam went on to date author Freya St. Johnston however they split in 2012 and he hasn't had a long term relationship since.

Bill Nighy

Bill Nighy played the rock and roll legend Billy Mack who enjoyed womanising and partying.

It's a role that seemed worlds apart from Bill, who was in a committed relationship with actress Diana Quick at the time.

However, in 2008 it emerged the star's27-year relationship hadcome to an abrupt end.

Diana, who is credited with saving Bill from alcoholism when he was a little-known theatre actor, swiftly moved out of their £1.7million home in London.

The pressures of his demanding work schedule were thought to be to blame.

The star's recent success was blamed by many for the collapse of his relationship with Diana, who found national fame herself with her role as the spoilt aristocrat Julia Flyte in the 1981 ITV drama Brideshead Revisited.

By his own admission, he became obsessed with work to the exclusion of almost everything else.

In recent months, Bill has been linked to the editor of American Vogue, Anna Wintour.

Alan Rickman

Alan Rickman did an excellent job portraying the villainous Harry, who left his wifeKaren (Emma Thompson) brokenhearted when he embarked on an affair with his secretaryMia (Heike Makatsch).

Tragically, Alan died in January 2016 in London at 69 years of age, after quietly battling prostate cancer, which he was first diagnosed with in 2005.

Among those to pay tribute to Alan after his death was his Love Actually co-star Emma, who implied she was with him hours before he died, saying: 'I have just kissed him goodbye.'

She shared: 'Alan was my friend and so this is hard to write because I have just kissed him goodbye. What I remember most in this moment of painful leave-taking is his humour, intelligence, wisdom and kindness.

‘His capacity to fell you with a look or lift you with a word. The intransigence which made him the great artist he was – his ineffable and cynical wit, the clarity with which he saw most things, including me, and the fact that he never spared me the view.

‘I learned a lot from him. He was the finest of actors and directors. I couldn’t wait to see what he was going to do with his face next. I consider myself hugely privileged to have worked with him so many times and to have been directed by him.

‘He was the ultimate ally. In life, art and politics. I trusted him absolutely. He was, above all things, a rare and unique human being and we shall not see his like again.’

Alanbecame one of the best-known villains in showbiz - appearing as Hans Gruber in Die Hard, the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Professor Snape in the Potter films.

Emma Thompson

Emma Thompson's character Karen had viewers in tears with her iconic scene when she learns of her husband's (Alan Rickman) affair.

It was a case of life imitating art for Emma, who had been left heartbroken when it emerged her husbandKenneth Branagh had an affair with Helena Bonham Carter, admitting she felt 'unlovable' after finding out.

The actress married Kenneth in 1989 just two years after they met, but his affair with Helena ended their six-year marriage in 1995.

Helena is believed to have started an affair with Kenneth in 1994 while she played his love interest in his version of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. They went on to have a five-year relationship.

Speaking to the New Yorker in 2022, Emma admitted she felt 'humiliated' by the affair and felt that she was 'unlovable' after being left devastated by Kenneth's unfaithfulness.

She told the publication: 'I was utterly, utterly blind to the fact that he had relationships with other women on set.

'What I learned was how easy it is to be blinded by your own desire to deceive yourself.'

'I was half alive. Any sense of being a lovable or worthy person had gone completely,' she added.

Two years before Helena met Kenneth and their affair began, she had worked with Emma on 1992 romance drama film Howard's End.

Since the affair, the pair have also worked together on the Harry Potter series, with Emma playing Professor Trelawney and Helena starring as Bellatrix Lestrange.

Emma has previously admitted that she had long 'forgiven' Helena and channelled her feelings of betrayal into playing a wronged wife in hit film Love Actually.

Revealing how she recovered from the devastation, Emma said it was her now husband Greg Wise who 'picked up the pieces and put them back together'.

Emma met Greg while filming Sense and Sensibility in 1995, which won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Martin Freeman

Martin Freeman had an unconventional love story playing John, a professional film stand-in who ends up getting engaged to Judy (Joanna Page) after meeting while simulating sex scenes.

In real life, Martin has had a tumultuous love life, having split from actress Amanda Abbington in 2016 after 16 years of marriage and welcoming two children, Joe and Grace.

The couple had to keep their high-profile break up a secret for six months after he and Amanda just couldn't live with each other anymore.

Talking to the The Sunday Times magazine, Amanda said: 'When we broke up nobody knew, we didn't tell anybody except for a few key people because they had to know, because of the logistics of hotels and stuff.

'It took six months for it to get out and a lot of that was while we were working on Sherlock... We were professional and we were going to get on and make a show and be civil to each other.

'We still get on really well, we still really both admire each other as actors... he's a great guy, but we just couldn't live with each other any more.'

The pair met on the set of the film Men Only in 2000 and went on to play formidable duo John and Mary Watson.

Martin has since gone on to date French actress Rachel Mariam, 30, who has featured in many roles including BBC's smash hit Normal People.

He is still said to have an amicable relationship with Amanda, however, and is said to have checked in on her after she claimed to have been abused on Strictly Come Dancing.

A source told the publication: 'Martin has made a point of making sure Amanda is OK with everything that has happened recently. They share two children together so have always remained close for their sake.

'He was left worried and concerned at learning about the things which Amanda has been going through. And it's been really heartening for Amanda to know that she has Martin's support.

'She's been through hell recently, and had to endure death threats and hateful messages. She's relied heavily on her fiance Jonathan who has been an absolute rock throughout all of this.'

Billy Bob Thornton

Billy Bob Thornton took on the role of the bolshy US President who clashed with the Prime Minister (Hugh Grant).

In real life, Billy knows all too much about going after what he wants, having been married six times.

Yet whis marriages have been short, but hardly sweet. He wed first wife, Melissa Lee Gatlin, in 1978. ‘Well, I got drunk, went bowling and got married’, he later explained.

They had a daughter, Amanda, but Billy ended it after two years. He remains estranged from Amanda.

Billy married again in 1986, to little-known actress Toni Lawrence. As with wife number three, aspiring thespian Cynthia Williams, whom he wed in 1990, the marriage lasted just two years.

In 1993, Russian former Playboy Playmate Pietra Cherniak became wife number four. They had two children, William and Harry. Pietra ended the marriage in 1997, accusing Billy of spousal abuse, which he denied.

He then began seeing Jurassic Park star Laura Dern, but that ended in 1999 when Angelina Jolie came into Billy's life on the set of Pushing Tin, a film about air traffic controllers.

Laura only realised she was history when Angelina turned up at a party with ‘Billy Bob’ tattooed on her shoulder. ‘I left our home to work on a movie, and while I was away, my boyfriend got married, and I’ve never heard from him again,’ she said.

Billy and Angelina wed in 2000 in Las Vegas, despite the fact he was 20 years older. But it was not just the age difference that made the union seem unbalanced.

The intense pair were said to be so devoted that Billy said he had a ‘legal piece of paper in her blood, saying that I could never leave her for all of eternity’.

Their marriage actually lasted just two years — the Billy standard. They separated in June 2002.

Billy then went on to date someone who wasn’t famous. He met Connie Angland in 2002 on the set of comedy Bad Santa where she was a puppeteer. They had a daughter, Bella, and Connie became wife number six in 2014.