How Lily James Reportedly Felt After Pictures Of PDA With Married Actor Dominic West Broke

Lily James in Netflix's Rebecca

Lily James was supposed to be out and about promoting her brand-spanking new Netflix movie with Armie Hammer this week, but instead headlines have been caught up in the PDA she was caught in with married actor Dominic West. Most of the dust has settled there, but now a source close to the actress says she’s “horrified” about the news being made public.

It’s been a few days since the images dropped on the Internet, showing Dominic West and Lily James spending time with one another in Rome. The two are co-stars in an upcoming project The Pursuit of Love, so the fact they might be spending time together isn’t all that odd. However, they “kissing and cuddled” on the plane to Rome and later were scene engaged in PDA while dining in the city.

Now a source speaking to US Weekly says Lily James and Dominic West’s wife are “horrified” about the photos. The source is unnamed, however, it is true that Lily James has cancelled a couple of appearances since the interviews were made public. She currently has not spoken out about the images taken by paparazzi, but she still made a scheduled appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to talk Mamma Mia 3 and more. Fallon did not ask about The Pursuit of Love or West.

For Lily James’ part, the actress recently broke up with her longtime boyfriend Matt Smith, an actor known for Doctor Who. The two had dated for five years as Lily James’ star was on the rise. She was also seen with Chris Evans over the summer. Seemingly, she was untethered when she embarked on the trip with Dominic West.

The Affair actor, on the other hand, is married to Catherine FitzGerald, though he’s seemingly had a laissez-faire attitude toward affairs of the heart in the past. As for FitzGerald, she and West have put up a united front, telling the press they are “still very much together.”

The BBC and Amazon project that brought Dominic West and Lily James together is The Pursuit of Love, a series based on the Nancy Mitford novel of the same name. Filming may have begun as early as July, though some reports also indicate the series has been in production since August. It will follow Lily James as Linda Radlett in a family drama about love and relationships. In it, Dominic West will play the father figure to Linda, Uncle Matthew. Given their working relationship, the age gap, his marriage and more, there has been public interest around what happened.

Lily James wrapped on her role in the series earlier in October, sharing the lovely time she had with the cast and crew on set. Her female co-stars, but not West, were both specifically mentioned.

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Lily James can be seen currently in Netflix’s Rebecca, now streaming as part of the service's October offerings.

Jessica Rawden
Managing Editor

Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie. Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.