Brit stars Sienna Miller and Jude Law were once one of the hottest celebrity couples in Hollywood, their romantic relationship dominating the pop culture conversation. After a year of dating in the mid2000s, however, the headlines about their love life quickly shifted as word spread about Law’s secret affair with their nanny, completely altering the course of their relationship. More than a decade later, Miller still can’t shake the dark feelings from that period of her life — the scandal changed her forever.
The pair first met in 2003 on the set of the romantic dramedy Alfie, in which Miller starred as one of the many women that Law’s serial dater character encountered in the plot. They hit it off during filming, and by the time the film was released a year later, Miller and Law were engaged. Things were smooth sailing for awhile until the actress (and the rest of the world) discovered that Law had been in an entanglement with his children's nanny, Daisy Wright.
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As if the realization of her fiancé's infidelity wasn't bad enough, the news also broke right as Miller was starring in a West End production of As You Like It in the role of Celia. Her stage debut, a moment that should have been the most exciting time in her career, was overshadowed by scandal. Instead of being able to completely focus on her play, the actress had to face the paparazzi day in and day out.
"It was really hard," Miller told The Daily Beast in a recent interview. "That was one of the most challenging moments I hope I’ll ever have to experience. Because with that level of public heartbreak, to have to get out of a bed let alone stand in front of 800 people every night, it’s just the last thing you want to do."
"There’s a whole six weeks of that experience that I don’t remember. I have no recollection of it,” she continued. “People who came to see me said we had dinner, and I don’t remember. I was in so much shock over it all. And I’d really just begun. I was only 23. But if you get through that, you feel like you can get through anything.”
Miller chose to fight back against the endless barrage of paparazzi trailing her by filing lawsuits, attempting to change British law in a way that would protect her privacy going forward. Combined with the emotional exhaustion of dealing with the fallout of a public breakup, the negative media attention was almost too much to bear. But today, the A-lister is able to take it all in stride. She's in a whole new relationship now — her new boyfriend, Lucas Zwirner, is the head of publishing company David Zwirner Books — and has since gone on to star in a number of successful films and plays.
"“There was so much noise that it was hard to think straight and focus on my work, which I always took very seriously," Miller recalled of the devastating scandal. "I look back on it and wonder how I did get through it—but I did.”