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Idris Elba’s Secret Second Wife Opens Up About Divorce From The Actor

By Val Powell
Published on: 04:56 PST, Apr 19, 2016

British actor Idris Elba’s secret second wife is talking about why they broke up.

Elba may be one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood today, but nobody knows what he had to sacrifice to get where he is now.

The actor’s ex-wife is claiming he left her to save his image and his acting career. He married Sonya Hamlin, a property lawyer, in 2006, after a whirlwind romance, but the couple divorced after just a few weeks.

Hamlin said there was a lot of pressure in their relationship from people telling Elba that his marriage would ruin his career.

“He was being told it was an important part of his image to be a single sex symbol in Hollywood and being married would damage that.”

Hamlin admitted she was heartbroken at the time because they loved each other; however, the actor was “getting a lot of flak for being married.”

“‘It wasn’t the right look,’ that’s what they were telling him. I wanted to save the marriage,” she went on to say.

Idris Elba and Sonya Hamlin met through a mutual friend in 2006 and they immediately hit it off. At the time, she was already a successful lawyer while Elba was just starting out in Hollywood with The Wire.

“I didn’t know who he was,” shared the lawyer. “My friend just said he was a nice guy. He wasn’t a superstar back then. Living in Maryland I was vaguely familiar with The Wire, but I didn’t know who he was.”

The couple moved in together in Maryland and married after a few months. She said their marriage was a spontaneous decision and clarified they had no plans of getting married when they flew to Las Vegas to watch a boxing match. The two tied the knot at the famous Little White Wedding Chapel.

“We had been together several months already and knew it was right. We were both madly in love by then, and we were like, ‘Let’s just do it!’ We were both excited. It was a mutual decision. As far as we were concerned, we were going to spend the rest of our lives together,” Hamlin shared with The Mail.

After six weeks of marriage, Elba broke up with her. She admitted it was not an easy decision to make, and both were sad when they filed for divorce. It was a mutual decision. Idris Elba went on to star in BBC’s Luther, Pacific Rim, and Netflix’s Beasts of No Nation after the split.

Elba has once acknowledged that being an actor is “quite a selfish profession” as it has “detrimental effects on your personal life.” While his career is doing well, his personal life may not be not quite as good.

The actor was first married to Hanne Norgaard, a make-up artist and had one daughter with her. Then, he had a 10-year relationship with pole dancer, Desiree Newberry. He met Hamlin after his breakup with Newberry. Just recently, Elba split with his current girlfriend, Naiyana Garth, 28, the mother of his 2-year-old son Winston.

After his relationship with Garth fell apart, the Beasts of No Nation actor has been rumored to be dating RnB singer K Michelle.

Hamlin, on the other hand, has finally moved on from her failed marriage. She wishes nothing but happiness for her former husband. “I’d be happy for him if he got married again, and he genuinely loved that person. I’m not a jealous person. I want him to be happy, just like I’m sure he wants me to be happy. I don’t think he’s ever going to have a problem being lonely.”

[Photo via AP Images]

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