Lesley Manville recalls the 2018 “bonkers” Oscars ceremony where she and ex-husband Gary Oldman were both nominated for top awards.
The couple, who share their son Alfie Oldman together, separated 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, despite the history, that the 90th annual ceremony had been “magnificent” and that her son now belonged to “a very exclusive club” of children whose parents both lived in the same period were nominated for Oscars. 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 insane,” Manville told Lauren Laverne.
“And the great thing was, of course, that Gary was nominated that year and he won.
“So Alfie had a really…fun (time). His whole family was there. Both his parents were nominated for Oscars in the same year.
“He is part of a very exclusive club. I think only the children of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have had the same.”
She continued, “So of course we went to the governor’s ball and we did a little bit of that and Gary was there and Alfie’s half brothers were there and it was lovely.”
Manville revealed that she had not initially confided in her family about her divorce from Oldman and that it had been “an immensely lonely time”.
“I just thought, ‘oh well, I won’t tell them because maybe in a few months it will all be fine,'” she said.
“But it was a very lonely time. (In the) days before cell phones too, so very hard to talk to him or you know what I imagined for myself.
She added that she and Oldman had loved each other and were having “the best time” before “the rug was pulled really hard from under my feet”.
“I thought we’d be together forever, we’d have a big family, but if that happened I might not have the career I have now,” she said.
Manville made her professional debut in 1972 in a West End musical and has since taken on a wide variety of roles, both on the big and small screen.
In addition to her Oscar-nominated performance in Phantom Thread, she starred in films such as Mrs Harris Goes To Paris, Vera Drake and played Princess Margaret in the most recent series of 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 at 11.15am on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 4.