It’s Anna touchy-Friely: Actress and Rhys Ifans get close as they finally admit they’re an item

By
Sara Nathan
Last updated at 11:23 PM on 27th February 2011

Days after Rhys Ifans was spotted slipping out of her home in his dressing gown, Anna Friel has confirmed one of showbusiness’s worst-kept secrets.

She admitted that she and the legendarily scruffy Welsh actor are an item.

‘I’m with Rhys and I’m very happy about it,’ said the 34-year-old actress who split from her long-term partner David Thewlis two months ago.

Hollywood double act: Rhys Ifans and Anna Friel have finally confirmed that they’re an item. The actress said: ‘I’m with Rhys and I’m very happy about it’

She and Ifans, 43, made their first public appearance together at the Hollywood hotel Chateau Marmont.

Sipping cocktails, they appeared to have difficulty keeping their
hands off each other and, as they left, they linked arms around their
backs.

The Notting Hill star is understood to be staying at  Anna’s house
and has been spotted at the house several times in recent weeks.

The Welsh actor, who has previously dated Sienna Miller and Kimberley
Stewart, is said to have grown close to Anna since filming Sky TV movie
Neverland – a Peter Pan spin-off which sees Friel playing sexy pirate
Elizabeth Bonny opposite Ifans’ character Jimmy Hook.

The secret’s out: Anna Friel and Rhys Ifans link arms behind their backs as they finally come clean after weeks of speculation about their suspected relationship

Miss Friel announced her split from Harry Potter star David Thewlis –
father of her five-year-old daughter Gracie – in December after nine
years together.

At the time a friend told the Mail: ‘Things have not been great for a
long time and they have tried to keep this quiet to protect everyone.

‘It certainly did not help that Anna and David have been forced to live apart for so long.

‘But there are other issues at hand that have made them realise the relationship was over.’

Sleepover: Rhys was snapped outside Anna’s home on Friday morning in his dressing gown

The pair got together in 2001 after meeting on a flight to Cannes.

They divided their time between a converted ballroom in Clerkenwell,
central London, owned by Thewlis, and a house in Windsor owned by Miss
Friel.

Miss Friel admitted their relationship was far from conventional,
saying: ‘He’s 13 years older than me. We have our own separate
properties and we’re not married.’

Chemistry: Friel and Ifans in the Sky TV movie Neverland

Split: Anna Friel and David Thewlis broke up in December after nine years and a daughter together

Suggestions were made that all was not well when Miss Friel was
pictured kissing actor Joseph Cross, 23, her co-star in her West End
play Breakfast At Tiffanys a year ago.

At the time, the former Brookside actress stressed that he was merely a friend.

And even when Cross moved into the couple’s Hollywood home in April,
Thewlis said: ‘Joseph is a good friend of mine. I have no problem with
him staying at my house.’