Jude Law and Sadie Frost were a controversial '90s couple. They met in 1992 on the set of Shopping. It was the film debut of the Alfie star. He was 19 while she was 25 and married to Spandau Ballet's backing vocalist, Gary Kemp. The two grew close while working together. Frost felt that she'd "spend the rest of my life" with the younger actor. The actress ended up leaving her nine-year marriage for him.
"The force of the love I felt for Jude and his intense ambition made me feel out of control," she wrote in her 2010 autobiography, Crazy Days. They became the center of "Primrose Hill set," a UK-based circle famous for its hedonistic lifestyle. Then as Law's career took off, Frost found herself "low and lost." It got worse when they had their son Rafferty, 24, in 1996. The Dracula star struggled with post-natal depression. Meanwhile, the Sherlock Holmes actor was away a lot for work.
How They Met Kate Moss
At one point, Frost was admitted to the hospital after cutting herself. She had just gotten home that day after partying all night. "I watched my hand slowly pick up a pair of scissors. It was as if I was being sucked down lower into the chair and the scissors seemed to be drawn to my arm," she recalled. "I appeared to have cut myself. Blood dripped down my arm. There was no sense of panic within me - I just felt empty."
The actress was treated with medication. The next year, she and her man tied the knot, proving to the public that they were still as great as before. They had a simple wedding on a canal barge in London's Little Venice. Frost wore no shoes or make-up. But she was dressed in Kate Moss' 21st birthday outfit designed by John Galliano. The model was part of the Primrose Hill group. She met the couple after her breakup from Johnny Depp in 1998.
According to Maureen Callahan's 2014 book, Champagne Supernovas, Frost had a sexual affair with Moss. When the actress told Law, "he became excited by it; the three became entangled." One of their friends told Callahan that Frost began to fall in love with the heroin chic poster girl. "They all partied together, slept together. It was a very soulless life they led," they said. Frost didn't write anything about it in her book. But she confirmed that the endless parties led to her split from Law.
What Really Caused Their Split
"The more in demand Jude was professionally, the more of a drama queen I became," said the Waiting for Anya star. "As he matured into a man, I started to act more like a child. We were living on a knife-edge, but we made it work because of Rafferty." She also opened up about dealing with self-esteem issues when they started to frequent grand Hollywood parties. "The more I worried about my condition, the more self-obsessed I became and the less attention I gave to Jude," she said.
Frost continued, "Jude was up for lots more roles and I was still feeling low, struggling to hold the relationship together, feeling threatened." Partying became her coping mechanism. Then their youngest son Rudy, 18, was born in 2002, two years after the birth of their daughter Iris, 20 — Kate Moss' goddaughter. Frost spiraled back into depression. One of her good friends advised her to get help. Instead, she insisted on flying to Thailand for a family holiday. Law had just been photographed with another woman at a party.
Frost knew the marriage was about to end. "Jude and I flew to Thailand separately. Right away I knew something was wrong," she said. "I knew it was over, the way he looked at me. I was underweight, depressed and scared." When they went to Los Angeles for the Golden Globe Awards, the actress asked Law: "Do you love me?" The Holiday star didn't say a word. It was followed by a serious altercation. "We had a row, a few glasses were broken... I have been self-destructive, especially when I had postnatal depression," the actress revealed.
How It All Ended
That same night, her US agent convinced her to seek help. But Frost escaped in the middle of her mental assessment. It got her sanctioned for 28 days. "The psychiatric ward was as bad as I'd imagined: plastic sheets on the bed and bars on the windows," she said. "It was obvious to me and to the staff that this was not the best place for me. Fortunately, a friend was allowed to take me to his home a week later." Seven months later in August 2003, she filed for divorce.
Frost, 56, remains good friends with both her ex-husband and Moss, 47. The model's 18-year-old daughter Lila Grace is good friends with the former couple's daughter. The teens are even following in the footsteps of their famous mothers. Lila's father is Dazed and Confused editor, Jefferson Hack. Law, 48, was originally chosen to be her godfather but when he got divorced from Frost, the role was given to Bobby Gillespie who is best known as the frontman of the alternative rock band, Primal Scream.