Felicity Kendal: ‘Infidelity equals unhappiness’
Actress Felicity Kendal reveals why ‘lying is never a good idea’
Looking back at her complicated love life, Felicity Kendal has admitted that, at times, her relationships ‘overlapped a little bit’ – and reckons that most of us are unfaithful at some point.
They do say the course of true love never did run smooth… and the wonderfully mischievous Felicity was not the least bit regretful as she reminisced about her colourful romances across the years.
Married and divorced twice, Felicity, now 72, famously dated playwright Tom Stoppard and has come to the conclusion that the one thing to avoid at all costs is having affairs.
Star of British sitcom The Good Life, as happily married Barbara Good, Felicity explained, ‘I didn’t ever have affairs. I just went from one person to another, maybe overlapping a little bit.
‘I wouldn’t recommend infidelity to anybody, ever,’ she added. ‘It’s basically lying – and lying is never a good idea. But we all lie and most of us, at some point, are unfaithful to our partner.’
And Felicity has enough experience to know what she’s talking about.
The mother-of-two confessed that, for her, infidelity ‘equals unhappiness’ as it’s what led to her first divorce, from actor husband Drewe Henley who, she said ruefully, was no stranger to affairs.
After 11 years, she divorced Drewe and, in 1983, tied the knot with US theatre director Michael Rudman. That marriage ended in 1991 when Felicity began dating Tom Stoppard (who later left his wife, advice columnist and presenter Dr Miriam Stoppard) – but the pair stayed friends.
In 1998, Felicity and Michael – who share son Jacob, now 32 – rekindled their romance. Though they have never remarried, they have been happily loved up ever since. And Felicity’s forthright sentiments on honesty offer some serious food for thought.
Does it take an elicit encounter with a handsome stranger to be unfaithful – or does it count to have ‘cheated’ in our heads?