ROWAN Atkinson is being divorced by his wife today after he left her for a comedienne half his age.
The Blackadder star, 60, split from Sunetra, 54, last year and the pair have since been living in separate homes.
He has been dating actress Louise Ford, 32, who appeared in Channel 4 sitcom Chickens, for 18 months after they met in a West End play.
Sunetra has applied for a “quickie divorce” with their decree nisi set to be approved at London’s Central Family Court this morning.
If successful, the pair will be officially divorced in six weeks.
The Mr Bean actor and ex-BBC make-up artist Sunetra, mum to his kids Ben, 22, and Lily, 20, were building an £11million dream home in Oxfordshire when they broke up after being married for 24 years.
The Sun revealed he bought Sunetra a six-bed West London mansion, costing £21million last year.
Rowan, who is worth £71million, is living in a humble three-bed cottage in the north of the capital that set him back £4.65million.
A source last night said: “This divorce has been on the cards for a while after Sunetra was deeply upset to be replaced by such a younger woman.
“Rowan has sorted the family out financially and these arrangements have been in place for while. The divorce though took its time so everybody is happy with it and they can all move on.”
Rowan’s new romance started early last year when he was spotted still wearing his wedding ring with Louise in South London garden centre.
The couple have since enjoyed a break to Cornwall together and left the opening night of a play together holding hands in April.