Friday, 4 February 2011

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The surprising past of our secret crush Colin Firth

Revealed - Colin Firth's ex factor

Colin Firth is now married to Italian wife Livia

Film Fans blog

The King's Speech - award-baiting at it's finest!

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Colin Firth's hotly tipped to scoop the Best Actor award at this year's Oscars but it's not just hisacting credentials that's got Hollywood talking.

After his stunning turn in Tom Ford's A Single Man in 2010, he's now officially gone from ‘notty to totty' and confirmed his place in everyone's affections with his sensitive portrayal of George VI in new film The King's Speech.

Despite basking in the warm glow of being hot in Hollywood, Col isn't as squeaky clean as his bumbling Englishness would have us believe.

The 50-year-old has a surprising past - including a secret son in British Columbia in Canada. Colin fell for actress-turned-writer Meg Tilly when the pair starred in Valmont in 1989.

California-born Meg had come from a background of domestic violence and friends say Colin provided the safe, loving existence she'd always dreamt of.

The couple lived in LA before moving to a log cabin ‘in the middle of nowhere' in rural Canada. Their son Will, now 20, was born a year later.

Torn between trying to revive his acting career and a remote life in Canada making ends meet with carpentry work, Colin agreed to live apart from Meg.

He returned to London to try to get some theatre work. Despite the pair trying to make the long-distance thing work, with Colin reading Will a bedtime story over the phone every night, barely a year after their separation they split for good.

Twelve months later Colin landed his breakthrough role as Mr Darcy in the TV series Pride And Prejudice.

Colin has remained on friendly terms with Meg, and when he won the Best Actor In A Drama award at the Golden Globes last month, she took to her blog to congratulate him.

‘Our happy hats off to a member of the family,' she wrote. ‘We are so pleased for you! Hearty jigs are being danced... Jubilant hugs and kisses from all of us.'

It'll be his wife of 13 years Livia Giuggioli who'll get the honour of walking down the red carpet with the unsuspecting stud later this month at the Oscars.

Colin met the Italian film producer 15 years ago and the couple, who married in 1997, have two children Luca, nine, and Matteo, seven.

And while we're keeping everything crossed that he wins the Best Actor Oscar, we wanted to let Colin know we're free to attend if Livia can't.

See 5 Things You Didn't Know About Colin Firth in Now magazine dated 7 February 2011 - out now! 

READ the full list of Oscar nominees 2011 here>>

SEE PICTURES: OSCAR Winners 2010 - Who won