by Lesley Manville has recalled the “crazy” 2018 Oscars ceremony, where both she and ex-husband Gary Oldman were nominated for top awards.
The couple, who share son Alfie Oldman, split in 1990, though Manville said she was determined not to “fall apart” after the split.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, she said that despite the story, the 90th annual ceremony had been “lovely” and that her son now belonged to “a very exclusive club” of children whose parents had been nominated for Oscars. in the same year.
That year, Manville was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Phantom Thread, while Oldman won Best Actor for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour.
“It was absolutely crazy,” Manville told Lauren Laverne.
“And of course the wonderful thing was that Gary had been nominated that year and he won.
“So Alfie was having a very… good (moment). All of his family was there. Both parents were nominated for Oscars in the same year.
“It is part of a very exclusive club. I think only the children of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have had the same thing.”
She continued: “So of course we went to the Governor’s Ball and did a bit of that and Gary was there and Alfie’s half-brothers were there and it was lovely.”
Manville revealed that he had not initially confided in his family about his separation from Oldman and that it had been “a tremendously lonely time”.
“I just thought, ‘Oh, well, I won’t tell them because maybe in a few months, everything will be fine,’” he said.
“But it was a tremendously lonely time. (In the) days before mobile phones too, it was very difficult to talk to him or you know what I had imagined.”
She added that she and Oldman had loved each other and had “had the best time” before “the rug was very severely ripped out from under my feet.”
“I thought we would be together forever, that we would have a big family, but maybe if that had happened, maybe I wouldn’t have the career that I have now,” he said.
Manville made his professional debut in 1972 in a West End musical and has since taken on a wide range of roles on both the big and small screen.
In addition to her Oscar-nominated performance in Phantom Thread, she has starred in films such as Mrs Harris Goes To Paris, Vera Drake, and played Princess Margaret in the most recent series The Crown.
Elsewhere in the episode, she told Laverne about several “sliding door moments” in her life, including her desire to be an opera singer.
Desert Island Discs airs Sunday on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 4, at 11:15am
