In a shock twist straight out of a soap opera, national funnyman James Acaster revealed his heartbreak at being cast aside for none other than the legendary Rowan Atkinson, known to many as Mr. Bean!
Acaster, 38, a regular on panel shows such as Taskmaster, Mock the Week, and Would I Lie to You?, spilt the beans about the gut-wrenching ordeal. The Off Menu podcast star found out his girlfriend Louise Ford had left him for Atkinson in quite possibly the most tabloid way – via a full-page spread in a Sunday paper.
“I got left for Mr Bean,” Acaster bared his soul during a recent stand-up routine, “No one else in the history of time has ever been left for Mr Bean.”
The comedic powerhouse had been dating Ford, 42, a comedian and actress known for her roles in Horrible Histories, Crashing, and the royal spoof The Windsors, for over two years when she abruptly gave him the cold shoulder.
They had been living together, blissfully unaware that love’s cruel axe was about to fall. The rift began when Ford starred alongside Atkinson, 68, in the West End show Quartermaine’s Terms in 2013.
In the same year, Atkinson parted ways with his then-wife, make-up artist Sunetra Sastry, 66, after a 24-year marriage. Not long after, Atkinson and Ford were sharing a roof, and by December 2017, they welcomed their daughter Isla into the world.
Acaster couldn’t help but inject some humour into his heartache, showing that a true comedian never loses his sense of humour, even in the face of romantic calamity.
“I’m a goddam saint to have kept this in the back pocket so long,” Acaster quipped. “Until you get left for Mr Bean, you don’t realise how frequently he pops up. There’s a shop two streets from my house that sells masks of his face. There’s nowhere where I’m going to go that he’s not there.”
Ford graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2007 and first made waves in the comedy world with performances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. After her relationship with Acaster, she found herself drawn to Atkinson while they worked together on stage, sparking a relationship that would forever intertwine her story with the legendary Mr. Bean.
It appears that Acaster can make light of the situation now, and his career is strengthening. We are sure his next girlfriend won’t leave him for a much older comedian next time, but just in case we are warning you now Jim Davidson..back off!