Claire Foy reunites with The Crown co-star Matt Smith

Actress Claire Foy reunited with close friend and The Crown co-star Matt Smith in London on Thursday for a socially distanced rehearsal of theatre show, Lungs.

It’s the first time Claire has been seen since it was claimed her ex-husband Stephen Campbell Moore is having a baby with Keeler actress Sophie Cookson.

Claire and Stephen announced their four-year marriage was over in February 2019. They are parents to Ivy Rose, four. He and Sophie have been together for 18 months. 

Claire and Matt will stream their Old Vic theatre show this week, performing Duncan Macmillan’s comedic play about a couple wrestling with life’s dilemmas. 

Actress Claire looked summery on the day, wearing a black billowing dress which she teamed with yellow Birkenstock sandals. 

She carried a green and yellow bag and a folder in hand, and Matt arrived at the stage door separately in a grey T-shirt and joggers.  

It was reported that Claire and ex-husband Stephen had parted long before they released their joint statement. 

‘We have separated and have been for some time,’ they said. ‘We do however continue as great friends with the utmost respect for one another.’ 

A source also told The Sun: ‘After seven years together this came as a real shock to many of their friends, but they’re lovely people and are determined to keep everything civilized.

‘Obviously it has been a very sad period for both of them, and for their wider families. But they are wonderful parents, intelligent and both successful in their own right.’ 

The news came just months after The History Boys star Campbell Moore had a life-saving operation to remove a brain tumour – his second in five years – in July 2017. 

Campbell-Moore originally discovered he had a walnut-sized tumour his pituitary gland in 2012 after an overwhelming bout of anxiety led to the actor suffering stage fright while preparing for an Arthur Miller play, prompting doctors to suggest he go for a brain scan.

His second op took place while Foy was filming the second series of The Crown with co-star and screen husband Matt Smith, who plays Prince Philip.

Claire met her husband – best known for his part in The History Boys – on the set of Season of the Witch in 2011, a film which starred Ron Perlman and Nicolas Cage. 

Meanwhile, Matt reunited with his long-term love Lily James in March after they were forced to live together in their shared house in London during lockdown. 

The split followed rumours that Lily, who had been dating Matt for five years, had struggled to cope with Smith’s close friendship with Claire.  

However, other sources said that the couple – who met on the set of Pride And Prejudice And Zombies in 2014 –were driven apart because of their hectic work schedules.

But even before their official split, there were reports of tensions in their relationship, with Miss James absent from photographs taken at Smith’s 37th birthday party in October.

In December, Miss James prompted speculation that she had managed to move on from Smith by leaving a British Fashion Awards party in Mayfair in a taxi with handsome actor Max Ianeselli.

That month she also went on holiday to South Africa with her friends, including stylist Rebecca Corbin-Murray, which she described as a ‘post-traumatic stress getaway’.

During the jaunt, the actress, who got her breakthrough playing Lady Rose in Downton Abbey, dropped what appeared to be a hint by posting an image of her visit to a wild cat sanctuary on her Instagram page with the message ‘National Cheetahs’.