Colin Firth & Livia’s marriage suffered because ‘nothing could erase’ her betrayal

We heard almost a week ago that Colin Firth and Livia Giuggioli have formally separated. It was not surprising, given the fact that Livia’s affair was made public last year, when she and Colin accused her lover of stalking them. While Colin and Livia claimed that they were low-key separated when she was sleeping with Marco Brancaccia for nearly a year, very few people bought that. What we did believe was that Colin was trying to protect his (cheating) wife and their family. He tried. Maybe Livia tried too. But in the end, they couldn’t repair their marriage. Now People says that after Livia’s affair, nothing was ever the same between them:

While Colin Firth and his wife Livia tried their best to keep their marriage intact, sources say in the end, they realized it was time to move on. Those who knew them best weren’t exactly shocked by the development—especially after the drama that transpired when the ultra-­private couple admitted in 2018 that Livia, 50, had had an extramarital relationship with Italian journalist Marco Brancaccia, while she and Colin, 59, were separated between 2015 and 2016.

Livia accused Brancaccia of stalking her after their 11-month relationship ended and, together with Firth, sued him in an Italian court for carrying out a “campaign of harassment.” (Brancaccia denied the accusations, and the case was settled out of court in July 2018.)

“Things never really came around for them [after that],” a film industry source tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “No matter what was decided when they stayed together after her affair, nothing could erase that betrayal. It was time to move on, even though they had a solid family relationship and really wanted to save it.”

[From People]

Their two sons are teenagers, and I imagine that the older boy is about to start his gap year and/or head to university. The younger boy is 16, so while I imagine there could be some “acting out” from the younger one, he’s old enough to understand the basics. For Colin and Livia, it’s not really about “we have to stay together for our family.” The kids get it. And so Colin and Livia just decided to end it. I do wonder about all of this though – we heard last year that Livia had her affair out of what amounted to boredom. Throughout all of those stories – not to mention the separation news – it feels like women have been eager to “find a reason” why it’s Colin’s fault. From what I’ve seen, Colin is thoroughly the wronged party, and he tried like hell to protect Livia (even from herself) and to save their marriage.

Photos courtesy of WENN.