David Thewlis got married five years ago

He told the Observer New Review: "That was so weird. I mentioned my wife in passing on Instagram and suddenly the tabloids were reporting that, 'I’d got married in a secret ceremony', like I’m a Freemason.

"I’ve been with my wife 10 years, we got married five years ago and I’ve worn a wedding ring ever since. Just because I didn’t alert the [newspapers] didn’t mean it was secret."

The 'Naked' star credits video calls for keeping his relationship with Hermine "alive" when they're working in separate countries.

Discussing his new novel, 'Shooting Martha' - which is about a director mourning his dead wife - he said: "Oddly enough, it pre-dated all the lockdown Zooms.

"I already did a lot of FaceTiming with my wife, Hermine. We were in separate countries for work and family reasons but it kept our relationship alive. We’d cook the same meal, drink the same wine and dine like we were at the same table.

"When we turned each other off at the end of the night, it was strange and existential because we’d been together but not.

"It led to the idea of a bereaved man keeping his wife alive via video calls. At the same time, I came across this fascinating documentary called 'L’Enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot'. That fed into it, as did Hitchcock’s 'Vertigo'."

David had shocked fans with news of his marriage when he reflected on his first meeting with Hermine as she prepared to travel to France to visit her loved ones.

He wrote on Instagram: "When I first met Hermine she was wearing a cherry red dress with white polka dots and smoking tobacco from a clay pipe. She told me she was the retired ringmistress of a travelling flea circus I thought she was joking, but it was true. Ça a été un coup de foudre.

"These days nobody smokes and the only rings are on our fingers. These days, sleeping beside her, I wake up laughing in the middle of the night. Tomorrow she is leaving for Paris and Provence to visit her family for the first time in over a year, whilst I must remain here in London, hawking fine literature to the masses.

"I am already a little lost. I feel like one of her poor fleas, off balance and out of control on a flying trapeze, with no net and no one to catch me.

"Hermine is almost packed. 'I’ll miss you,' I say, 'and I expect you’ll miss me'. She smiles and puts on her headphones, as if to say, 'Yes, of course I will'."