Gary Oldman really knows how to hold down his career by scoring big roles like Winston
Churchill, Dracula , and Sirius Black in Harry Potter . But he seems to be less skilled at
holding down a marriage. Trying to decode Oldman’s relationship timeline is trickier than trying to
solve a crime. With 2 high-profile relationships, one engagement, five marriages, and four divorces;
your head will be spinning. Oldman seems very determined to not give up on love
and we have put together his entire relationship timeline with all the scandals you can imagine.
Gary’s first well-known romance in Hollywood was with actress, Lesley Manville . The pair met
during a play at London’s Royal Court Theatre and married in 1987. They had a son together, Alfie,
but in 1989 the actor made a drastic decision — moving to America to pursue his dreams.
It seems like Hollywood was calling his name, and Gary, wanting to develop his career, chose to
leave his wife and three-month-old son. He could have taken his family with him though, right?
Manville never discussed the split but later said he was not the perfect parent he would
have people believe, she said, “He plays a small part, with the accent on the small,
however much you might have read in the press about how wonderful a father he is.”
The couple’s divorce was quick and was finalized in 1990. Before his divorce was finalized,
he began dating Uma Thurman , not long after he had abandoned his wife and baby.
There are many rumors surrounding the actors’ introduction. Allegedly,
Sean Penn introduced Thurman to Oldman while the men were shooting State of Grace in 1989.
Apparently, Thurman was dating the director of the film when she met Oldman on set, but there doesn’t
appear to be much backing for either of these theories. But in 2014, the State of Grace director
cleared it all up and said that Gary and Uma were dating while they were filming State Of Grace
and got married right after the movie wrapped. Either way, you look at it, there was a
cross-over between Gary’s marriage with Lesley and his relationship with Uma.
Thurman said they met in England when she was 18 which means they met in 1988 or early
1989 – while he was still married. Could that be the real reason he left Lesley and his son?
Despite there being a 12-year age gap, Oldman and Thurman tied the knot in 1990,
just a little over a year of dating. 2 years of marriage was all it took for this
couple to fall apart when she apparently dumped him via a “Dear Gary” letter,
saying he was impossible to live with. Her final straw with the actor was after
an incident where he was arrested for drunken driving. She later said that it takes a special
kind of woman to put up with him. Ouch! Uma believes that her marriage to Gary
was a mistake, and it was just some crazy love affair that ended as it needed to.
Oldman has been known to be overly forthcoming in interviews. He joked about his one marriage that
lasted for 10 minutes which was likely alluding to the actress and the shortest of all his marriages.
He spoke on the divorce and responded to Thurman’s thoughts on living with him,
confirming that it was no picnic living with her either but for very different reasons.
“You try living with an angel. I don’t think the relationship meant very much to either of us.”
In typical Gary fashion, it didn’t take long for him to move on to his next relationship.
He met Isabella Rossellini) during the filming of Immortal Beloved in 1993,
and in just a few weeks came talk of marriage. By the end of that year, they were engaged.
But his drinking continued to spiral out of control and it included a 70-day bender where
his tongue even turned black. Isabella gave him an ultimatum which was either rehab or there would be
no marriage. Oldman eventually managed to get sober and admitted it was of the hardest things
he had ever done but the marriage to Isabella never happened. The pair split in 1996.
But he refused to give up on love once again.
During the split with Rossellini, he moved on to his third marriage and possibly his
most tumultuous with photographer, Donya Fiorentino . The pair quickly
fell for one another after meeting at an Alcoholics Anonymous gathering in 1996.
Within five months of meeting, they were married, and Donya was pregnant with their first son,
Gulliver Two years later, they had their second son, Charlie 8). But in 2001,
Gary was facing divorce number three. Their 4-year marriage was blighted by
addiction and alleged abuse. Donya claimed in legal papers at the time that Oldman hit her with
a phone while she held their youngest son. She also said he blew money on hookers and drugs.
Oldman vehemently denied the claims and said her addiction made her an unfit mother.
The judge awarded custody of their sons to Oldman. This is also what happened with Donya’s daughter
from her first marriage to David Fincher Gary took a break from acting to raise his
sons as a single father. He started taking roles purely for money to support his family.
He even told his manager: “I’d like to do the least amount of work for the most money.”
This is how the actor came to star in Harry Potter and the Dark Knight trilogy.
Donya spoke out in the wake of the Me Too movement and said, “I feel as though he stole my children
and destroyed my life.” She also claimed he excluded her from their children’s lives and
her two grown sons barely speak to her now. It was not in the actor’s plans to remarry and,
surprisingly, he stuck to his plans. Less than a year after the divorce,
he had a three-year relationship with Ailsa Marshall which ended in 2005.
For years, he avoided serious romantic liaisons for the sake of his sons, but in 2008 came Mrs.
Oldman number four. He married Alexandra Edenborough , an accomplished vocalist,
cellist, and songwriter. Alexandra was 20 years younger than Gary. At the time the actor said,
“I’m not proud this is my fourth marriage. But this is a good one. Hopefully, my last one.”
Sadly, she filed for divorce in 2015, and Gary cited the age difference as the cause
of the separation without further details. The then 59-year-old actor was still determined
to find love no matter his age. And what do you know, just 2 years after his fourth divorce,
he married Gisele Schmidt . The writer and the actor married in a low-key ceremony at
the home of Gary’s manager, Douglas Urbanski After several years of being together and
discussing it, the actor decided to pop the question. And as Oldman revealed,
he did it while in character as the former English Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.
He was filming Darkest Hour when he proposed to Schmidt — on the film set. The actor explained how
it happened by saying, “We were down in the war rooms, and I took her into the map room. And as
Winston Churchill, I said ‘Will you marry me?'” Schmidt's answer was yes. However, the couple
could not enjoy the romantic moment because they immediately called Oldman to film. Ahhh, what can
we say here… Fortunately, his wife's sense of humor came to light in the unusual situation.
The Oscar winner disclosed that she joked about the incident, saying she "went to bed with
Winston Churchill but woke up with Gary Oldman." Very little is known about the life of Schmidt,
who, before Oldman, was married for 20 years and had a son named William. The actor has
also led his love life quite discretely despite various marriages and divorces.
Oldman has said about Schmidt's previous marriage, "Her ex, they were together 20 years,
and they have a 9-year-old son, he's a great guy. He was at our wedding. We're all very friendly.
He even said 'We should have been friends. I wasn't 'Mr. Right.' But we're great buddies."
The couple lives with her and Oldman’s sons in Los Angeles. He now shuns the
red carpet and is rarely seen at parties. Could marriage number 5 be Gary Oldman’s last?
It appears that he has found the one woman that he could possibly spend his life with. He spoke
about his fifth marriage and his thoughts about why it is different from his others, by saying,
“I don’t think men really know what they’re up to until they’re 40.
Looking for love later in life is about being receptive to a different type of love.”
Surely, different is a good thing and, perhaps, Oldman’s darkest hours are now behind him.
Stay tuned to Rumour Juice to learn more about Gary Oldman’s love life in the future.
Let us know what you think of the actor’s five ex-wives in the comments below,
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