The Affair meets Downton Abbey in a bizarre luvvie-land headline-grabber with Dominic West canoodling more than openly with actress Lily James in Rome over the weekend. This resulted in friends saying his wife and mother of his four children, Catherine Fitzgerald, was devastated since she thought they were still happily together. Next photo-op is West plus a hesitant lady wife appearing together, with forced smiles and kisses to say their ten year marriage is strong.
West, 15 October 1969, is a laid back Sun Jupiter in Libra with a seductive, manipulative Venus Pluto in Virgo; a Sagittarius Moon; and a hard-edged Mars in Capricorn trine Saturn in Taurus.
His wife Irish landscape gardener and aristocrat Catherine Fitzgerald, 18 May 1971, is an odd mix with him, being a stalwart and serious Sun Saturn in Taurus trine Pluto; with a Moon in Aquarius/Pisces. Her Sun Saturn opposes his elusive Neptune and her Venus in Aries/Taurus is conjunct his Saturn. Their relationship chart has an expansive and optimistic composite Sun square Jupiter; with Jupiter in a superficially affectionate trine to Venus; with Venus in a needs-space square to Uranus.
It’s not exactly overflowing with affection and is moving through turbulent times with tr Uranus square the composite Sun and opposition the Jupiter through this year till spring 2021; and tr Saturn is conjunct the composite Mars and trine the Pluto later this month into early November, which will be downbeat and angry. Even worse from late February 2021 onwards there is a seriously aggravated tr Pluto conjunct the composite Mars (maybe Moon). Methinks it may not survive the pounding. Though Mars trine Pluto relationships do not split easily or without a great deal of rancour since one partner will always have exerted control and won’t appreciate being forced to let go.
In many ways he finds Lily James, 5 April 1989, easier for light hearted companionship since she is a Sun Venus in Aries which sits well with his Libra Sun and Jupiter. Though she’s also of the triple conjunction of Saturn Neptune Uranus in Capricorn generation so will be unpredictable and chaotic, unlike his more sensible wife. Their relationship chart isn’t too inspiring with only a flash of initial attraction from composite Mars square Venus; though there is a possessive composite Sun square Pluto which can exert a pull at the start.
Lily James has just split from The Crown’s Matt Smith, 28 October 1982, a Sun, Jupiter, Venus in Scorpio. Her relationship with Smith looks a good deal cosier than with West with an affectionate composite Sun Venus sextile Mars. But tr Saturn conjunct the composite Sun clearly did for that – but who knows? It has been on and off for the past five years. It could even flare up again. Musical chairs in celeb relationships move at dizzying speed.
He is awful, his affair on display for the world to see. He is not all that attractive either, his underhand ways are seeable.
VF and GnarlyDude – yes, mix Zeus with a Uranus transit and that should do it! I also notice DW has his Venus/Pluto sextile Neptune in Scorpio. The glamour of deception – glamour in both senses of the word – is part of it, as well as part of being a charismatic actor. He is a gifted actor, with presence rather than amazing good looks. Lily J also has Neptune aspecting her Aries stellium, but restrained a bit by Saturn.
Also, you know, just Actors…..they really do need attention, usually.
Wel indeed Jane, the profession can be more than a little, erm….special, to put it politely.
With Sun conjunct Jupiter in Libra square Mars, his inability to remain faithful is writ large. Sun/Jupiter can be egotistical and puffed up enough as it is – I always think of Zeus’s many dalliances – but put it with Mars and he’s going to get a real kick from taking all those risks.
Good points Jane. His Virgo planets are up there in the 9th so more exploration. 9th house Virgo, I expect he talks a great game about their togetherness. That’s reflected in the note.
He’s probably always felt able to ‘hand off’ his earthy needs to his wife. Her Sun-Saturn would have more than given him a sense of security. Her Pluto is on his Venus just as much as his. She has Aries Venus which will love his Libraness. Add in his neptune opposite her Sun-Saturn and she has a Pisces moon, I reckon she’s besotted with him all these years.
No pairing is perfect but there’s a lot going for them as a couple with his saturn also on her Mercury/MC. That’s all being shaken to bits by transiting Uranus. My general feel is he needs to decide who he is and set his own boundaries, she needs to loosen hers.
Sun-Jupiter man with Sag moon married to a Taurus Sun-Saturn woman seems doomed (at least superficially). He always wants to expand and try new things, she wants to maintain the status quo and hold back.
I suspect this isn’t his first dalliance but the others haven’t embarrassed her publicly. Any Sun-Saturn person is very concerned by what others think. I’m guessing her Sun-Saturn has gone ballistic at him, become very controlling hence the staged photo shoot and note written by him. She also has natal Pluto trine to that Sun-Saturn – all in earth so it would prefer to avoid change until its unavoidable. Note that transiting Uranus is squaring her natal Mars so shaking up her anger. Transiting Saturn and to a lesser extent transiting Pluto are setting her up to reinvent herself in the next few years.
As for Lily James, for a 31-year-old woman she comes across as being 18-19. The Aries and Gemini planets seem to make her the eternal puella. The off-on relationship with Matt Smith suggests she can’t handle being on her own but Smith with his Scorpio planets probably kept coming back for her and she could’t say “No”. A week or two on from their latest split, she’s in Rome, with older man who is a perennial opportunist looking for the greener grass. Not hard to see how her loneliness combined with his opportunism led to scootering and kisses,
No one person is to blame – their individual weaknesses and the relationship dynamics got triggered.
Yes, I agree it’s unlikely to be the first dalliance for DW. But he has Mars in Capricorn and Venus/Pluto in Virgo so may need the security and depth of a long-term relationship, or even a long-term secret affair perhaps. These planets would be quite sexual, yet there’s an underlying seriousness there. Lily James with her Gemini Mars and Aries Venus would enjoy messing about, and perhaps the “fun” of taking an attraction a bit closer to the edge. In the endless stalker-y photos online, they are accompanied for part of the time by a publicist or someone like that – there are three people having lots of wine at lunch. So possibly this was a PR stunt gone wrong owing to wine, sunshine, and the delights of being in Italy?! Many of us have probably been in a similar situation at some point…..