Why Jude Law Is "Happy" About the Publicity That Resulted from Cheating on Sienna Miller
Who: Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning actor Jude Law, 46, and Golden Globe and BAFTA-nominated actress Sienna Miller, 37.
Dave Hogan/Getty Images
How They Met: Miller and Law met on the set of Alfie in 2003 while he was undergoing a divorce from his wife of six years, Sadie Frost. It’s unclear precisely when their relationship began — he was mum on the topic during an interview with The Guardian in late 2003, but by Christmas the following year he and Miller were engaged.
Why We Loved Them: Has a couple ever more thoroughly reeked of the year 2005? Sienna’s dress-over-jeans and Jude’s “fashion scarf” tell us no.
Steve Parsons - PA Images/Getty Images
When They Peaked: After getting engaged, getting caught with the nanny (just Jude, that is), breaking up, and stirring rumors of a reconciliation four years later, Jude and Sienna came out strong in 2010, overwriting that “no comment” business and making the most explicit “hello, we’re together” public outing possible: a night at the Met Gala.
Rabbani and Solimene Photography/Getty Images
RELATED: TBT: Vanessa Hudgens Revealed Something Horrifying About How Zac Efron Eats His Eggs
The Breakup: Trouble in paradise erupted across the tabloids in July 2005 when Law’s children’s nanny, Daisy Wright, sold the story of her affair with the Talented Mr. Ripley star to a British newspaper.
Law didn’t waste time hiding from the press and issued an apology that very day: “Following the reports in today’s papers, I just want to say I am deeply ashamed and upset that I’ve hurt Sienna and the people most close to us,” he said in a statement to the British Press Association. “I want to publicly apologize to Sienna and our respective families for the pain that I have caused. There is no defense for my actions which I sincerely regret and I ask that you respect our privacy at this very difficult time,” he continued.
Following the scandal, Miller and Law split, briefly, before reconciling a few months later.
In October of 2006 Miller presented a fairly lax attitude toward fidelity in an interview with Rolling Stone. “I don’t know, monogamy is a weird thing for me,” she said. “It’s an overrated virtue, because, let’s face it, we’re f–ing animals.”
RELATED: TBT: These Photos of Charlize Theron and Sean Penn Hugging Post-Split Will Make You Cringe
However, that doesn’t mean the PR nightmare Law implicated her in rolled off her back. “Everything happened in the wrong order,” she explained. “You become very known for being someone’s girlfriend, and all of a sudden there’s all this hype and buzz for all the wrong reasons.”
Just one month later the pair called it quits once more.
In 2007, Law opened up about the ordeal, telling the Telegraph that the worldwide scale of the incident taught him a valuable lesson.
“It all came out and in a way I'd never had an argument, I didn't try to defend myself, I took it on the chin. I was an idiot, I behaved badly. I've also been treated badly; it goes both ways. I made mistakes — who hasn't?" he said.
He went on, "I also like to think that because of the scale on which I had to then, um, admit to them, I learnt my lesson and I ain't going to f—ing do it again. I don't ever want to experience that pain, that upset, that confusion, that humiliation ever again ... I'm not happy I hurt people, but I'm kind of happy it was on such a public level.”
“You've seen me putting out the trash and now I feel like there's nothing left, you've seen it all and I can get on and in a weird way, that's kind of wonderful,” he continued.
Things weren’t quite as “wonderful” on Miller’s end. “What makes me sad [is] that there was a loss of innocence on my part,” the actress told Life in 2007. “I was blinded by being a romantic person. I sort of feel like, ‘What if I never love that vulnerably and that openly again?’ But I feel like I’m really strong. I feel like I grew up.”
In late 2009 history appeared to be repeating itself when the duo was spotted out in N.Y.C. several times, igniting reconciliation rumors despite reps’ insistence that they were “just friends.”
Jon Furniss/Getty Images
Sienna and Jude fanned the flames with their aforementioned Met Gala appearance.
By February of the next year, 2011, it was reported that Jienna was now, definitively, over.
Reflecting on her decision to reconnect with Jude in 2009, in 2014 Miller told Esquire UK she “had to do it,” explaining that their early-aughts relationship had been "a huge part of my life and his life and it ended in a way that was awful. When something ends in a way like that, it's important if you can, in a way, go back and revisit it and either shut that door or create a new room. So it was a very healthy, cathartic experience. And I think it paved the way for both of us to have great futures with no animosity or drama. Such a huge relief, to heal that. And I'm great friends with him and with his children. I love them, madly. Just huge love and respect for all of them."
Two years later, Miller’s sentiment remained similarly positive. “I care about him enormously,” she told Porter magazine, adding that they “don’t see each other that much.”
Law recently revealed that pop culture mentions of his affair with Wright “used to freeze my blood,” as did a joke that appeared in Sex and the City 2. “I would be left absolutely crippled. But nowadays it just bounces off. I’m like, ‘Is that all you’ve got?’ I mean, I’m doing the thing I love, I have a happy home life, I’m very proud of my children, and I’m healthy, thank goodness.”
Where They Are Now: Law, a father of five (Rafferty, 22, Iris, 18, Rudy, 16, Sophia, 9, and Ada, 4) wed his second wife, business psychologist Phillipa Coan, on Wednesday in London.
Karwai Tang/Getty Images
The actor recently gained critical acclaim for his performance in The Young Pope, which will receive a serial follow-up, The New Pope, out later this year. Most recently, Law appeared in Captain Marvel and is set to star in psychological drama The Nest and revenge flick The Rhythm Section alongside Blake Lively.
Miller and then-fiancé Tom Sturridge welcomed daughter Marlowe in 2012. She's currently linked to art world heir Lucas Zwirner, 27.
Sienna has a busy summer, with her film American Woman out in June followed closely by Roger Ailes Showtime series The Loudest Voice alongside Russell Crowe and Naomi Watts.
