Game of Thrones star Charles Dance says his marriage ended after he "succumbed to some temptations"

English actor Charles Dance has had many roles over his illustrious career, but is best remembered among many for playing Lord Tywin Lannister on Game of Thrones. The implacable patriarch of the Lannister family was as harsh as he was intelligent, a character fans would have hated if they weren't so compelled by him. He was a great character, and a lot of that can be attributed to Dance.

In his personal life, Dance was married to sculptor Joanna Haythorn for over 30 years, from 1970 to 2004. They had three children before they divorced. Speaking on the Rosebud podcast, the 77-year-old Dance reflected on why the marriage ended.

“For the most part, it was a wonderful marriage, but then, unfortunately, I succumbed to some temptations along the way and the marriage ended because of my behavior really,” Dance said. “I eventually had to come clean.”

"Because we were living in Somerset, in this enormous place, and Jo had her study at one end and I had mine at the other end, and we became a bit like George and Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Eventually I came back and I thought, ‘really, we have to have (a) very serious conversation’. And I had to come clean and it came as a shock to Jo, bless her."

Dance doesn't outline exactly what temptations he's talking about, although it's not hard to read between the lines. "In our business, temptation is often presented and you have to be pretty together and balanced, and have not a particularly powerful libido to not succumb to that...So, the marriage came to an end – huge regret. But after about 18 months, Jo and I, thankfully, became the best of friends, and we remain so, thank God."

Charles Dance is currently making the rounds in the media to promote The First Omen, a prequel to the classic 1976 film The Omen, about the birth of the Antichrist. Dance plays a character named Father Harris. Priests don't tend to do well around the devil, so I like his chances of surviving the movie.

h/t NME

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