Rupert Everett: Relationships, Feuds, and Career Highlights

Few actors have pulled off the trick of being both a rom-com fixture and a provocateur quite like Rupert Everett. His 1997 turn in My Best Friend’s Wedding made him a household name, but the layers beneath that performance — a very public crush on Colin Firth, a famously strained friendship with Madonna, and a late-career move into directing — are what keep people asking what he’s really been up to. Here’s a grounded look at the relationships, feuds, and career turns that define his story.

Born: May 29, 1959 ·
Notable Film: My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997) ·
BAFTA Nomination: 1997 ·
Published Memoirs: Two: Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins (2006), To the End of the World (2021) ·
Directorial Debut: The Happy Prince (2018)

Six facts, one pattern: Everett’s public image is a tangle of confirmed milestones and stubborn question marks — especially when it comes to who he spends his life with.

Has Rupert Everett got a partner?

Rupert Everett’s private life

• Everett has never been married (BBC (public broadcaster)).
• He has one son from a past relationship, though he keeps details of the child’s mother private (El Mundo (Spanish daily)).
• In 2024, a Spanish profile reported that Everett had married Henrique, a Brazilian accountant, earlier that summer (El Mundo (Spanish daily)).
• That report has not been confirmed by Everett’s representatives, leaving his current relationship status as officially private.

Past relationships and rumored partners

• He was linked to model and actress Paula Yates in the 1980s, and wrote about their friendship in his memoir (BBC (public broadcaster)).
• Everett has said he prefers to keep romantic relationships out of the press, which has led to periodic speculation but few confirmed partners.

Does Rupert Everett have a husband or wife?

• As of 2024, no official confirmation of a marriage exists beyond the Spanish report from El Mundo.
• Low-confidence claims from a UK entertainment site suggest Everett confirmed the marriage in a 2024 interview, but that source is not independently verified (CivicPost (entertainment blog)).

The implication: Everett’s public persona is built on a foundation of carefully guarded privacy.

Did Rupert Everett have a crush on Colin Firth?

Everett’s own account of the crush

“I had a huge crush on him [Colin Firth] when we were young. It was not reciprocated.”

Rupert Everett, speaking in his 2006 memoir Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins, as reported by Golden Globes (film industry authority)

• Everett and Firth first worked together on stage in Another Country in 1984 (Golden Globes (film industry authority)).
• The crush is openly described in his memoir as a youthful infatuation that complicated their early friendship.

How the crush affected their friendship

• Everett later wrote that unreciprocated feelings contributed to a rift that grew over decades (Smooth Radio (UK entertainment station)).
• The two did work together again in 2002 on The Importance of Being Earnest, which some saw as a step toward reconciliation (Golden Globes (film industry authority)).

Are Colin Firth and Rupert Everett friends now?

• In 2018, Firth joined the cast of Everett’s directorial debut The Happy Prince, a move Everett described as a sign of goodwill (BBC (public broadcaster)).
• Low-confidence sources claim Firth later said, “We love each other now,” but no primary interview confirms that exact phrasing (Reefreview (entertainment blog)).
• They are not known to socialize regularly, and Everett has said the friendship remains “complicated.”

The pattern here: a personal admission can become a lasting public narrative.

What led to Rupert Everett and Colin Firth’s decades-long feud?

The initial falling out

• The feud reportedly intensified after Everett made remarks about Firth’s marriage to Livia Giuggioli (Smooth Radio (UK entertainment station)).
• One account claims the rift began when Giuggioli allegedly made a pass at Everett, which he discussed in his memoir — a move that angered Firth (CivicPost (entertainment blog) — low confidence).

Public comments and memoir revelations

• Everett’s 2006 memoir laid bare the tension, and subsequent interviews didn’t help. He told one outlet that Firth’s marriage was “a disaster” — words that widened the gap (Smooth Radio (UK entertainment station)).

The role of Firth’s marriage and divorce

• Colin Firth and Livia Giuggioli divorced in 2019 after 21 years of marriage, amid reports of infidelity on both sides.
• Everett’s commentary on the marriage was cited by friends of Firth as a factor in the prolonged silence between the two.

Who is the love of Colin Firth’s life?

• Firth has not publicly named a single “love of his life,” but his ex-wife Livia Giuggioli was his partner for more than two decades.
• He has been linked to actress Meg Tilly (his Valmont co-star) and writer Polly Walker in earlier years.

Why did Colin Firth’s wife leave him?

• The divorce was finalized in 2019. Both parties cited irreconcilable differences. No further public statement has been made by either.

The pattern here: a decades-old crush, a memoir that aired private grievances, and a messy divorce created a perfect storm. Whether the feud is truly over remains unconfirmed — but the 2018 collaboration on The Happy Prince suggests at least a professional truce.

Is Madonna still friends with Rupert Everett?

The history of their friendship

• Everett and Madonna became close in the 1990s, bonding over a shared irreverent sense of humor and a taste for pushing boundaries (Golden Globes (film industry authority)).
• Madonna cast Everett as her gay best friend in the 2000 film The Next Best Thing — a role that mirrored their real-life dynamic (BBC (public broadcaster)).

Why the friendship became strained

“My relationship with Madonna became strained after we had a disagreement about a project.”

Rupert Everett, 2023 interview, as reported by BBC (public broadcaster)

• The specific project was never publicly named, but Everett later said the strain was compounded by the film’s poor box office performance (BBC (public broadcaster)).
• BBC reports that Everett’s Hollywood career “took a dive” after The Next Best Thing flopped, and he moved to Europe to focus on theater (BBC (public broadcaster)).

Current status of their relationship

• In a 2020 clip, Everett said he and Madonna “are friends again” and described her as “an amazing woman” (YouTube (personal interview) — medium confidence).
• However, a 2023 interview tone suggested the friendship is now more occasional than close (BBC (public broadcaster)).
• They are not seen together publicly, and neither has made a point of rekindling the past.

What this means: the same film that boosted his career also derailed it.

What ever happened to Rupert Everett?

Career after the 1990s peak

• After the commercial disappointment of The Next Best Thing, Everett returned to the London stage and took smaller film roles (BBC (public broadcaster)).
• He voiced Prince Charming in Shrek 2 (2004), which became one of his most recognized performances worldwide (Golden Globes (film industry authority)).
• His directorial debut, The Happy Prince (2018), starring himself, Colin Firth, and Emily Watson, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival (BBC (public broadcaster)).

Recent film and stage work

• In 2024, he appeared in Emily in Paris season 4 as Giorgio Barbieri (Golden Globes (film industry authority)).
• He continues to work in British television and has expressed interest in writing a third book.

Rupert Everett’s personal life today

• Everett splits his time between London and a home in France (El Mundo (Spanish daily)).
• He has one son, now an adult, from a past relationship that he rarely discusses.
• As of early 2025, no official confirmation of a 2024 marriage to Henrique has been made by Everett’s camp.

Timeline

• 1959 Born in Norfolk, England
• 1982 Professional stage debut
• 1997 Breakthrough role in My Best Friend’s Wedding; BAFTA nomination (BBC (public broadcaster))
• 2004 Voiced Prince Charming in Shrek 2 (Golden Globes (film industry authority))
• 2006 Published first memoir Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins
• 2018 Directed and starred in The Happy Prince (BBC (public broadcaster))
• 2021 Published second memoir To the End of the World
• 2023 Spoke publicly about strained friendship with Madonna (BBC (public broadcaster))
• 2024 Reportedly married Henrique; appeared in Emily in Paris (El Mundo (Spanish daily))

The timeline shows a career marked by peaks and reinventions.

What we know — and what stays unclear

The pattern: the most intriguing aspects of his life remain off the record.

Quotes from key voices

“I had a huge crush on him [Colin Firth] when we were young. It was not reciprocated.”

Rupert Everett, from his memoir Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins, as reported by Golden Globes (film industry authority)

“My relationship with Madonna became strained after we had a disagreement about a project.”

Rupert Everett, 2023 interview, reported by BBC (public broadcaster)

“We love each other now.”

Colin Firth, reportedly on his current relationship with Everett, per Reefreview (entertainment blog) — low confidence

Everett’s story is one of reinvention and unresolved threads. His Hollywood peak ended in the early 2000s, but he found a second act as a writer and director. For fans wondering what’s next, the key takeaway is that Everett has always resisted being boxed in — by genre, by expectation, or by the press. The implication for anyone following his career: expect the unexpected, but don’t expect full transparency.

Related reading: **Dominic Cooper: Relationship History, Career, and Personal Life**

Frequently asked questions