Gillian Anderson’s love triangle drama
He left her for Jemima Goldsmith, now he’s changed his mind. Question is will Gillian Anderson take him back?
PETER Morgan: screenwriter for The Crown and a man who’s made a name for himself pitting woman against woman in the complex arena of love. Ask him about the tumultuous Charles/Diana/ Camilla triangle and he’s likely to know more about it than even Charles and Camilla do – with a healthy helping of artistic licence thrown in too, of course.
But the three-way drama Peter has found himself in lately is all very real. Two women, acquaintances on the London artsy scene, have both been swept up by the charms of the 57-year-old father of five – and it’s a story that wouldn’t be out of place in the Netflix show that’s made Peter famous.
At one side of the triangle is Gillian
PAnderson (52), who plays Margaret Thatcher in The Crown, a role for which she won a Golden Globe. On the other is Jemima Goldsmith ( formerly Khan), British socialite and man magnet, once a close friend of Princess Diana.
First it was Gillian and Peter. Then it was Peter and Jemima (47). And now it’s Gillian and Peter again.
Probably safe to assume Gillian and Jemima are no longer going to greet each other with air kisses, right? As for Peter – well, let’s call him the cad who got the cream.
ETER and Gillian met even before The Crown came along. They were introduced by Vanessa Kirby, who played Princess Margaret in the first two seasons of the hit series.
Vanessa and Gillian became friendly when they trod the boards in a production of A Streetcar Named Desire in a London theatre.
Peter and Gillian hit it off and were an item for four years – although they managed to keep it a secret.
They never lived together, Peter preferring to keep a home where his kids with his estranged wife, Austrian socialite Lila Schwarzenberg (52) – who was born Princess Anna Carolina zu Schwarzenberg – could stay without the complications of Dad’s live-in lover.
And that suited Gillian too – she has two sons, Oscar (14) and Felix (12), with her former partner, businessman Mark Griffiths, and a daughter, Piper (26), from her three-year marriage to Canadian art director Clyde Klotz (59). Maintaining separate homes was much simpler.
“If we did live together, it would be the end of us,” she said shortly before their split in December. “When I’m with my kids, I can be completely there for them. There’s nothing locking us in, nothing that brings up that fear of, ‘Oh gosh, I can’t leave because what will happen to the house. How will we separate?’ ”
The arrangement suited them so well that Gillian was initially reluctant to take on the role of the Iron Lady in The
Crown, worried that working together would finish them as a couple.
But it worked – so well, in fact, they were thinking of other projects to do as a team.
And then it was suddenly all over. They blamed their careers, although that doesn’t really hold much water given that they wanted to work together more. It’s more likely because of Jemima. “This has all happened quickly and has been quite a surprise,” an insider says of Peter’s romance with the film producer and journalist.
“The impression is that Jemima has been trying to make it happen for a while. She’s been into Peter for a long time.”
The pair are said to have enjoyed “an intense romance” that blossomed early in the new year, and by mid-January friends were saying they were in a support bubble during Britain’s second-wave lockdown.
Gillian wasn’t happy, insiders say. Peter and Jemima got together just a few weeks after their split. “And that’s not a long time, especially after four years together,” a source points out.
But then, lo and behold, barely a month later it emerged Peter had gone back to Gillian.
HE’S said to have joined her in Prague, Czech Republic, where she’s due to spend the next two months working on her latest film, White Bird. Friends say Peter is spending most of his time in Gillian’s hotel room,
ABOVE: Peter and his estranged wife, Lila Schwarzenberg, from whom he split in 2014 after 18 years of marriage and five kids. BELOW: Gillian and businessman Mark Griffiths broke up in 2012 after six years together. BOTTOM: She was married to art director Clyde Klotz for three years in the ’90s.
“desperately trying to patch things up”.
He may have some work to do. The Sex Education star, was getting into the single life after her initial shock at the Jemima business, her friends say, and told reporters she’d be attending the virtual
Golden Globes alone in her Prague hotel room.
“I prefer to be alone,” she said recently. “I have a good support system and recently I’m finding that to be everything. I really rely on my girlfriends.”
Still, she did thank him when she won the Globe for best actress in a supporting role, praising him for “imagining that I could inhabit Mrs T”.
Will Peter succeed and worm his way back into her heart? Only time will tell.
Peter is said to have pursued Jemima and “persuaded her they’d be great together,” a source says. “Now he’s gone back to Gillian. Jemima is pretty knocked for six about it.
“People are appalled by his behaviour. It seems really rather unstable. He’d said he was serious about Jemima and she was certainly serious about the romance with him.”
Jemima came in for a bit of bashing in the tabloids, with some outlets claiming she’d breached the “girl code” and hooked up with her friend’s man. Even though she and Gillian have never been close friends, Jemima found the attention painful, one pal says.
“So far the narrative has been all about the women – but don’t forget it was Peter who caused all this emotional damage,” the source says.
“He’s careered from one to the other and now back again with no regard for the damage he causes. The lack of courage he’s shown proves he’s seeking only his needs.” S SOURCES: THETIMES.CO.UK, DAILYMAIL.CO.UK, THESUN.CO.UK, NZHERALD.CO.NZ, INSTYLE.COM, THEGUARDIAN.COM, INSTYLE. COM, HELLOMAGAZINE.COM