Downton Abbey star Joanne Froggatt finds new love three years after heart-breaking split from husband of eight years
Downtown Abbey actress Joanne Froggatt was left heartbroken when her eight-year marriage ended – but she appears to have found love again as she walks hand in hand with a new man.
After the pair were spotted enjoying a stroll in the Buckinghamshire countryside, friends of Ms Froggatt said they were ‘excited’ for her and felt the mystery man may be The One following her devastating split from James Cannon shortly before the pandemic in 2020.
Dressed for the unseasonal rain in a black mac and jeans, she is thought to have been seeing the man, whose name is Mark, for several months and she is said to be ‘besotted’ with him.
Ms Froggatt, 42, who also starred in the ITV drama Liar has introduced Mark – who was dressed in sports gear for their walk – to her friends, and she recently took him to a party with her group of pals at The Greyhound Italian restaurant in Marylebone, Central London.
She was seen laughing at the friend’s birthday bash last month, and one source close to her revealed: ‘Joanne is having a great time with Mark.’
It is the first time that she has been publicly linked to a love interest since she split from IT consultant Cannon in February 2020.
Ms Froggatt, who played maid Anna Bates for the full six series of Downton Abbey, announced the split just weeks before lockdown.
She said: ‘We’ve been separated for a little while. I’m looking to the future. I’m just going to embrace this year and see what happens.’
A year on, in 2021, Ms Froggatt admitted the divorce from her long-term partner had thrown her life into a state of flux.
She said: ‘I didn’t think I’d be divorced, I didn’t think we’d be going through a pandemic, I didn’t think my life would be in flux in the way it was. But I’m OK with that.
‘I’m so grateful for my friends and family, for my health and to have been working so much during this past year. You realise, when it comes down to it, how many positives you have in your life.’
Ms Froggatt, who was engaged to DJ Phil Vane at 19, married Cannon in 2012 in a private church ceremony in Oxfordshire attended by her fellow Downton Abbey cast members.
In an interview in 2015 she described her marriage to Cannon as ‘perfect’.
She added: ‘He’s passionate about film and theatre, so we have a common interest – and he’s not in the business, so it’s perfect.’
While they were together she and Cannon owned a production company called Run After It, however the actress now manages the business on her own, and said that being in charge ‘feels like an exciting new chapter’.
