Has James found love with X-Men co-star, 24?
HE has only just announced his split from his wife, actress Anne-Marie Duff.
And X-Men star James McAvoy is reportedly showing no signs of looking back.
The 37-year-old is said to have grown close to his glamorous 24-year-old co-star Alexandra Shipp since the breakdown of his marriage.
The Glaswegian actor announced on Friday that he and Miss Duff – whom he met when they starred together in the Channel 4 comedy Shameless – were divorcing after nine years together.
Now it has been claimed that he and Miss Shipp, who is more than 20 years younger than 45-yearold Miss Duff, have become friendly while filming around the world for the latest instalment of the X-Men series.
The pair appeared to be enjoying each other’s company at the film’s UK premiere last Monday. At one point, McAvoy was pictured resting his hands on Miss Shipp’s hips as they shared a joke. A source told the Sunday Mirror: ‘It’s no great secret how they’ve got close.
‘James has been quite open among the cast and crew that his marriage was over – and it seems he has struck up a friendship with Alex since then.’ The source added that McAvoy and Miss Shipp were ‘very tactile’ together at the cast party after the premiere.
Yesterday, McAvoy was at his £1.9million four-bedroom terraced home in North London with Miss Duff and their only child, five-yearold son Brendan. It is understood the pair remain on good terms and are still living together for Brendan’s sake.
They later left the house on bikes and did not wish to comment.
Pictures have emerged of the pair looking tense outside their home on Thursday, the day before they announced their split.
They said in a joint statement on Friday: ‘It is with tremendous sadness that we have come to the decision to divorce.
‘We enter this next phase with continued friendship, love and respect for one another and the shared focus of caring for our son.’
The couple tied the knot in October 2006 after meeting on Shameless, in which McAvoy played Miss Duff ’s boyfriend.
The couple preferred to keep their marriage private and shun the limelight. McAvoy once told the Washington Post: ‘We don’t talk about each other much and we don’t turn up together at lots of events. We both really rejoice in having a normal life.’
The pair still appeared close last year at the premiere of historical drama Suffragette, in which Miss Duff starred alongside Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham-Carter and Meryl Streep.
McAvoy stars as the young Professor Charles Xavier in X-Men: Apocalypse, a role he has played in the previous two films in the hit franchise.
It is Miss Shipp’s first X-Men film and she plays a young Storm, the superhero played by Halle Berry in earlier instalments.
They were joined by fellow cast members including Jennifer Lawrence and Olivia Munn at the premiere in London.