Anna Friel is ‘stronger’ after splitting up with her long-term Army Major boyfriend

Anna Friel is one of this country’s most successful actresses, but she’s struggled to find lasting love off screen.

And now I can reveal that the Marcella star has split up with her long-term boyfriend, Regimental Corporal Major Mark Jaworski, who has previously served alongside Princes William and Harry.

‘I’m coming through it and I’m stronger – I’ve done a lot of self-work… It happens to the best of us,’ Friel confirms. ‘Some relationships will get stronger [during lockdown] and some will just not stand the test of time.’

The Marcella star has split up with her long-term boyfriend, Regimental Corporal Major Mark Jaworski (pictured), who has previously served alongside Princes William and Harry

Anna Friel is one of this country’s most successful actresses, but she’s struggled to find lasting love off screen. And now I can reveal that the Marcella star has split up with her long-term boyfriend, Regimental Corporal Major Mark Jaworski (right), who has previously served alongside Princes William and Harry

Friel in TV series Marcella. The former Brookside actress, who once dated singers Darren Day and Robbie Williams, owns a Georgian townhouse near Windsor Great Park

Friel in TV series Marcella. The former Brookside actress, who once dated singers Darren Day and Robbie Williams, owns a Georgian townhouse near Windsor Great Park

Emmy award-winning Friel, 44, started going out with Jaworski, 42, in 2018 after they met at a charity dinner in Windsor, where he served with the Life Guards Regiment of the Household Cavalry at Combermere Barracks, while William and Harry were members of its Blues and Royals section.

Shaven-headed Jaworski served with distinction in Iraq and Bosnia and colleagues describe him as a ‘born leader’ with expertise in close-quarters combat and weapons training. 

He was promoted last year and now teaches recruits at the Army Training Centre in Pirbright, Surrey. The 6ft 2in soldier split from his wife in 2007.

The actress went out for nine years with Harry Potter actor David Thewlis, with whom she has a 15-year-old daughter, and later courted Notting Hill star Rhys Ifans. (Above, Friel with Thewlis in 2009)

The actress went out for nine years with Harry Potter actor David Thewlis, with whom she has a 15-year-old daughter, and later courted Notting Hill star Rhys Ifans. (Above, Friel with Thewlis in 2009)

Friel adds: ‘Heartbreak is the worst feeling, because you think it’s never going to go away, but if you can get through a time like this – when you can’t distract yourself, you can’t go out and meet people or go to the pub – you can do anything. I find walking and crying helps!’

She went out for nine years with Harry Potter actor David Thewlis, with whom she has a 15-year-old daughter, and later courted Notting Hill star Rhys Ifans.

The former Brookside actress, who has also dated singers Darren Day and Robbie Williams, owns a Georgian townhouse near Windsor Great Park.

Forget the last-ditch trade talks. The real Brexit bother for Boris Johnson is coming from his father, Stanley

Forget the last-ditch trade talks. The real Brexit bother for Boris Johnson is coming from his father, Stanley

Forget the last-ditch trade talks. The real Brexit bother for Boris Johnson is coming from his father, Stanley. 

He’s irked about travel restrictions that will come into force on January 1, preventing Britons from spending more than 90 days in every six-month period at a holiday home in the EU. Stanley owns a villa in Greece. 

‘This is an issue a lot of people, myself included, are taking up,’ former I’m A Celebrity contestant Stanley tells me. 

‘It’s very complicated. This is a problem for many thousands of people. Representations are being made to the Government. 

They are going to have to tell us how to handle this.’

Why Amal’s husband George Clooney ‘sleeps in a closet’… 

George Clooney lives in a palatial, 17th century house on the banks of the Thames, but chooses to sleep in a tiny room, according to his fellow film star Hugh Grant.

‘I love the theory I have heard that people who suddenly get well-known stick emotionally, in terms of their personality, at the moment at which they get famous,’ Grant says. 

‘They can’t move on from it. I’ve heard stories that George Clooney, in his vast mansion, still sleeps in the closet, because he was sleeping in a very small apartment when he got famous.’

George Clooney (above, with wife Amal) lives in a palatial, 17th century house on the banks of the Thames, but chooses to sleep in a tiny room, according to his fellow film star Hugh Grant

George Clooney (above, with wife Amal) lives in a palatial, 17th century house on the banks of the Thames, but chooses to sleep in a tiny room, according to his fellow film star Hugh Grant

Clooney lives in Oxfordshire with his wife, the human rights lawyer Amal, and their three-year-old twins.

For his part, Grant, 60, is stuck in the mindset of a 34-year-old, he says, and has kept his West London bachelor pad despite owning a home with his wife, Anna Eberstein. ‘I’m talking to you now from the flat I had at that time and which I’ve never sold, because I like to run away here to work,’ he admits. 

‘I feel safe here. Well, you know, around the corner, I’ve got five screaming children and a whole other life.’

BBC grandee Andrew Marr fears the rift between Princes William and Harry could destroy the monarchy. 

‘It’s very dangerous for the Royal Family what’s going on now,’ the presenter of BBC Two’s New Elizabethans series tells me. 

‘Because once you get two camps, and two brothers who appear to be briefing against each other, then that is gold dust for journalism.’ 

The show must go on, says widow of Les Miserables genius 

I dreamed a dream that theatre would come back, and tonight it does with Les Miserables returning to the West End for a Christmas run.

And its celebrated lyricist Herbert Kretzmer, who died two months ago, will be there in spirit. 

Lyricist Herbert Kretzmer, who died two months ago, and his wife Sybil. She will be in the audience when Les Miserables returns to the West End tonight

Lyricist Herbert Kretzmer, who died two months ago, and his wife Sybil. She will be in the audience when Les Miserables returns to the West End tonight

His widow, Sybil, tells me she will be in the audience with his daughter, son-in-law and two grandsons. 

‘We felt it was important to honour Herbie’s work and see it being revived in these particular times,’ says Sybil, 69. ‘He may be gone, but his work lives on.’

She adds: ‘I’m thrilled live theatre is back. It will lift people’s spirits.’

(Very) modern manners

Here’s a barking Christmas present idea: a bottle of whisky that features an illustration of the recipient’s pet dog breed.

Model David Gandy, chef Marco Pierre White and TV producer Jemima Goldsmith are among those who have paid £45 for a bottle, with profits going to dog rescue charity Wild At Heart Foundation.

Old Etonian artist Hugo Guinness, who drew the labels for Copper Dog whisky, tells me: ‘I’ve always illustrated animals, especially dogs, and I was proud to do the original Copper Dog label.’ Take a bow wow.