Oh dear. Poor old Jude Law wants nothing more than to be taken seriously.
He detests being known as the pretty boy of cinema, preferring to think of himself as a proper thespian in the Laurence Olivier mode.
He hates being seen as a celebrity and followed by photographers, and is upset that people do not concentrate on his ‘art’.
Just last week he attempted to present himself as the biggest celebrity do-gooder since Angelina Jolie, with his latest film, which promotes nothing less than world peace.
But despite his best efforts, scandal appears to have a way of pursuing him.
A day after he talked seriously at the Cannes Film Festival about the documentary he has made with human rights’ advocate Jeremy Gilley, and described how he was in tears when he met Afghan girls who were defying the Taliban by educating themselves, it was revealed he had enjoyed a steamy night with Rod Stewart’s daughter Kimberly.
The details were excruciating. After a pub dinner with Kimberly’s father Rod and his wife Penny Lancaster, the pair went on to cheesy Essex nightspot the 195 Club, a favourite haunt of D-listers and footballers’ wives.
There, they downed glasses of £170-a-bottle pink champagne, and simply couldn’t leave each other alone.
Although the club’s bouncers tried to stop fans taking photos of the enamoured pair, grainy pictures have emerged showing Jude and Kimberly in a graphically passionate embrace.
They were later spotted rolling around on the lawn of a house, close to Rod’s home.
Jude was this week said to be mortified about the way news of his latest romance has emerged.
‘He is really upset and annoyed that this story has got out in such a way, particularly as all he wants to be doing now is promoting his documentary,’ said a source close to the actor.
‘He has had his parents ringing up from their house in France wondering what is going on and his ex-wife Sadie is terrified that someone is going to show their children one of the pictures.
‘She gently tried to take the mickey out of him about it, but he wasn’t having any of it and lashed out at her, saying there had been plenty of embarrassing pictures of her in the past.
‘When I saw him earlier this week he seemed really angry and the first thing he said was: “Don’t even mention it to me. I don’t want to discuss it.”
‘He really does try so hard to keep his private life out of the papers and hates being seen as a boy-about-town.
Jude says this embarrassment is as bad as the time it was revealed he was cheating on his fiancée Sienna Miller with his children’s nanny.’
It was through Sadie Frost, I can reveal, that Jude, 35, first met Kimberly - although it is unlikely Sadie ever envisaged any romance between her somewhat snobbish ex-husband and the 29-year-old blonde whose career highlights include posing in the nude, underwear modelling and starring in a reality show called Living With Kimberly Stewart.
Kimberly had been taken to a party at Sadie’s house by friend Kelly Osbourne, who is also pals with Kate Moss.
Jude was there and the two struck up an acquaintance.
The relationship progressed when they saw each other recently at Amika nightclub in Kensington, West London, and it has been a fully-fledged romance for the past two weeks.
Kimberly has been to Jude’s house, although she has not yet met his children, and there have been several other dates.
Jude, say friends, is ’smitten’ - although most don’t believe it will last.
‘He loves gorgeous, slim blondes so she fits his type perfectly,’ said one. ‘But although Kimberly is a lovely girl, and despite her airhead reputation, she is also quite canny at making her own money.
‘I still can’t see this being much more than a fling.’
This is far from the first time the actor’s attempts to be taken seriously have been undermined by his messy private life.
Four years ago, when he should have been basking in the glory of a best actor Oscar nomination for his role in the film Cold Mountain, his ugly break-up with wife Sadie and false allegations of an affair with co- star Nicole Kidman stole the limelight.
Not long after that, it was revealed that he and Sadie, who have three children together, had engaged in wife-swopping with their friends, musicians Pearl Lowe and Danny Goffey.
Miss Lowe let it be known that the actor had become obsessed with her.
Jude appeared to get his life back on track when he found love with his Alfie co-star Sienna Miller.
For a time, the beautiful actress and the heart-throb actor were London’s golden couple.
They were happy to show off just how in love they were in public and within months the pair were engaged.
But the romance came crashing down when it emerged that Jude was sleeping with his children’s nanny behind Sienna’s back.
The nanny sold her story - one of the most excruciating details being that one of the actor’s children had found the pair in bed together.
Jude, who hates anything to do with the press, was forced to put out a humbling public apology to Sienna.
The ‘distraught’ actress got her own back by having a short affair with Jude’s close friend, Bond actor Daniel Craig.
Despite all this, the relationship continued but was so off-and-on that it became a living soap opera that everyone soon tired of watching.
To make things even more difficult for desperate-to-be serious Jude, in the middle of his anguish he was caught by foreign paparazzi in the nude at his parents’ house in the South of France.
Since the couple finally split two years ago, Jude has been determined not to embark on such a public romance again.
A three-month relationship with journalist Kim Hersov was over almost as soon as pictures of the pair emerged, and there was a brief fling with German underwear model Susan Hoecke.
He has instead thrown himself into work, producing as well as acting. However, none of his films has attained the critical acclaim of earlier works such as The Talented Mr Ripley and Cold Mountain and his biggest hit of the past few years, slushy romance The Holiday, is the type of fare he would previously have avoided like the plague.
The South London-born son of two teachers, Jude has always derided his looks, complaining that his appearance takes too much attention away from his talent as an actor.
‘In England I’m not called Jude Law, I have three names; I’m called Hunk Jude Law or Heart-throb Jude Law,’ he sneered in a typical comment.
‘That’s cheap language that is thrown around. That sums you up in one little bracket. It doesn’t look at your life. But if one looks beyond, there is actually a little bit more.’
‘But recently he has had to come to terms with the fact that the good looks he once seemed to resent are now slowly disappearing. His hairline is receding and he is not as muscular as he once was.
He has become a bit obsessed with how he looks,’ said one friend. ‘He seems to look in the mirror a lot more these days and is always asking if he looks all right - something he used to take for granted.
‘Although he has always tried to steer away from the big romantic lead, he is also, conversely, concerned that he won’t get the parts any more.’
He does, however, still remain in demand as an actor and has two films currently awaiting release while next year he will fulfil a lifelong ambition to play Hamlet in the West End .
He is also concentrating on being a father to his three children Rafferty, 11, Iris, seven, and Rudy, five.
His once acrimonious relationship with his ex-wife - police were called on several occasions to calm down their fights - is now so loving that she jokes to friends that she often feels like they are still married.
Although Law recently bought a large five-bedroom house in Maida Vale, five minutes by car from Sadie’s home, he still spends much of his time with her and his children, as well as his stepson Finlay, 17, from Sadie’s marriage to former Spandau Ballet star Gary Kemp.
The pair regularly holiday together with the children - recent jaunts have included trips to Cuba, Tanzania and Austria - while he seems to prefer being in her company to that of any other woman in his life.
‘Whenever they get back from a trip, Jude wants to book the next one straight away,’ said a close friend of Sadie.
‘He loves hanging around her house and invites her round to his when he has the children.
‘He seems happiest when he has his family around him. Although Sadie and Jude both always have other lovers - they particularly like to be with people younger than them - they are also still really close.’
Jude’s desire to spend so much time with his ex and their children comes because he is feeling particularly lonely and vulnerable, say sources.
He was devastated by the sudden death of his close friend and mentor Anthony Minghella, who died two months ago at the age of 54 from a haemorrhage, shortly after an operation to remove cancer of the tonsils and neck.
A source close to the actor said: ‘They worked together on three films and Jude saw Anthony almost like a father figure. Anthony gave him both professional and personal advice and they were great friends.
‘He really has been devastated by the loss and spends a lot of time in his house playing the saxophone, which he and Anthony took up when they were filming The Talented Mr Ripley.‘
Jude once said he had just seven friends and Minghella is not the only one to depart from the actor’s life. He has refused to talk to former best friend Rhys Ifans since the Welshman started dating Jude’s ex Sienna, and he purposely avoids going to any parties or clubs where they could be.
Miller and Ifans have been dating for a year and recently became engaged, although there have been rumours that the romance is now on the rocks.
Jude similarly fell out with Bond star Daniel Craig after he had a brief fling with Sienna.
One new friend is actor and serial womaniser David Walliams of Little Britain fame. The pair have become close over the past few months and it is David, in particular, who has been urging Law to put himself out there once again.
Walliams is friends with Kimberly - they once had a dinner date - and is likely to have helped encourage the couple in their fledgling romance.
The new pairing has also been given the thumbs-up by Kimberly’s father Rod. Jude is an eminently more suitable suitor than some of her previous loves, who include George Best’s playboy son Calum, music producer Cisco Adler and rock star Wes Scantlin.
The leggy blonde, who is Rod’s daughter from his marriage to Alana Stewart and who grew up in Los Angeles, has calmed down after being part of the notorious Paris Hilton/ Nicole Richie/Lindsay Lohan hard-partying Hollywood set.
And she recently announced she was hoping to settle down.
‘I love, love, love British guys,’ she said. ‘I love the accent, the manner, and I also love the British sense of humour. Hopefully I’ll find a British husband while I’m here.’
It is unlikely that her latest boyfriend will be that man. But then again, you never know with Jude.
source: mail online
