IT’S not hard to see why women fall for Idris Elba.
Handsome, charismatic, talented and, according to one snap from 2014,
fantastically well-endowed, he is almost impossible to resist.
The latest person to succumb to his charms is supermodel Naomi Campbell, with
whom he was seen leaving a New York club this week.
Partying into the early hours with one of the world’s most beautiful women,
London-born Idris looked like he did not have a care in the world.
Sadly, the same could not be said for his long-term girlfriend Naiyana Garth,
left at home with their 22-month-old son — and a broken heart.
Just
days after his late night with Naomi, Idris’s split from make-up artist
Naiyana was confirmed.
He has since moved out of their South West London home and into a two-bedroom
flat nearby.
Naiyana is just the latest casualty in Idris’s car crash love life, which has
seen him rack up almost as many exes as he has acting awards.
The 43-year-old, who won Best Actor at the British Film Awards on Sunday,
admits that his romantic history leaves a lot to be desired, with his
personal life his biggest regret. “I sacrificed it to be where I am as an
actor,” he revealed. “So my relationships have suffered.”
Not half. While women have always fallen at his feet, Idris has always had
trouble sticking around.
He met his first wife, Hanne Norgaard, known as Kim, in the mid-Nineties while
he was still struggling to make it as an actor. They married in London in
1999.
Fed up with getting bit-parts in sitcoms and Crimewatch reconstructions, Idris
and his wife moved to the US so he could pursue his dream.
Kim, also a make-up artist, fell pregnant but the couple had split by the time
daughter Isan was born in 2002.
Idris blamed the break-up on Kim being unable to “adjust to the culture as
quickly as I did”, adding that they “just had a hard time”.
And of course, there was his career. He said: “It’s quite a selfish profession
being an actor. And it definitely has detrimental effects on your personal
life.”
By 2006, Idris was getting hitched again — this time in Las Vegas, to Sonya
Nicole Hamlin, who is believed to be a lawyer.
That marriage did not last either. In fact, it was annulled after one day.
Idris admitted: “There are a lot of regrets from my personal life.”
Perhaps his greatest regret was when he joyfully told friends and family that
his long-term lover, Desiree Newberry, had given birth to a baby boy in
2010. Idris had naturally assumed he was the father of the child, but a DNA
test later proved he was not. The news knocked him sideways, and he said:
“To be given that then have it taken away so harshly was like taking a
full-on punch in the face: Pow!”
It is a dating CV that would not look out of place on The Jeremy Kyle Show —
but it has not slowed Idris’s womanising.
A source acquainted with the star said: “Idris often travels with a bevy of
attractive women, who he claims are his ‘assistants’. They fall over
themselves to make sure he has everything he wants. He loves the attention.”
Although the TV and movie hunk openly admits he has “not been an angel” in the
past, friends thought he might be turning over a new leaf when he fell for
pretty Naiyana in the summer of 2013.
She became pregnant within months, and baby Winston arrived in April 2014.
But observers of Idris’s tumultuous private life will find it no surprise that
he became restless just as his career went stratospheric.
On top of his win at the British Film Awards, he has just won two SAG awards,
for his performance as TV detective Luther and his supporting role in Beasts
Of No Nation.
The latter is tipped for Bafta glory on Sunday and
caused uproar when it was ignored by the Oscars in the nominations shortlist.
Idris’s pursuit of stardom dates back to his humble beginnings on Hackney’s
Holly Street estate, now demolished but once considered the worst in London.
His parents — West African immigrants Eve, from Ghana, and Winston, from
Sierra Leone — had little money but a fierce work ethic, which they passed
on to their son.
A skinny, awkward kid, young Idris had a tough ride at the gritty local
schools. He said: “I remember walking into school on the very first day and
one of the kids sang out, ‘Feed the world . . . let them know it’s Christmas
time!’ And everyone cracked up. My first day! That’s how skinny I was.”
As a teenager, he found himself getting into fights with racist youths.
He said: “Canning Town was a big National Front area . . . I had to defend
myself a few times.”
After discovering Shakespeare at secondary school, Idris enrolled on a
Performing Arts Btec course at nearby Barking And Dagenham College, working
nights at the local Ford plant to fund it.
But his career may never have got off the ground were it not for a £1,500
grant from the Prince’s Trust, which allowed 18-year-old Idris to quit his
night job and take up a role in Guys And Dolls with the National Youth Music
Theatre.
After that, he secured only small roles such as that of a gigolo in Absolutely
Fabulous, and turned to “pushing weed” to get by when money was tight.
He said: “There were bouts of absolute poverty, homelessness . . . jobs that
could have got me into a lot of trouble, but the truth is, it was survival
instincts.”
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Idris was 30 by the time he scored his big break, landing the part of ruthless
Baltimore drug dealer Stringer Bell in the hit US series The Wire.
Later parts in films such as American Gangster, Thor, Obsessed and Pacific Rim
followed, as well as the lead role of Luther in the BBC1 detective show.
His depiction of Nelson Mandela in 2013’s Long Walk To Freedom received rave
reviews. But Idris found himself having to deal with the death of his
beloved father at the same time.
The star has also branched out into music. Under the name Driis, he has DJ’d
at Glastonbury, rapped on a Skepta remix and even opened for Madonna on her
2015 tour, earning him more adulation — especially from women.
He has also attempted to market himself as an all-round action hero with
Discovery Channel’s Idris Elba: No Limits, a series which saw him learn to
fly a plane and compete in a rally race.
Then there are the James Bond rumours that will just not go away.
Idris has been asked so many times whether he could be the next 007 that he
says: “I’m probably the most famous Bond actor in the world, and I’ve not
even played the role. Enough is enough. I can’t talk about it any more.”
A compulsive womaniser, adrenaline junkie and workaholic who would sacrifice
anything for his career?
He might not want to talk about it, but it seems like Idris and 007 might just
be a perfect fit.
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