Jennifer Lynton Biography

Jennifer Lynton had a good career before she met Sir Anthony Hopkins. She was working as a production assistant at the Pinewood Studios, in 1971. Lynton met Hopkins after going to pick him up from the airport because he was too drunk and had missed his flight. Hopkins was already married to actress, Petronella Barker, since 1966 at that time. But rumours of his being unfaithful were already rampant. Additionally, he was also gaining notoriety for his alcoholism and later admitted to “drinking like a fish”.

The underlying rift between Patronella and Hopkins became worse after the birth of their only daughter, Abigail Hopkins Harrison. Hopkins started staying away from home and sinking deeper into alcoholism. It was under these circumstances that he met Jennifer Lynton. The two started an affair while he was still married. Jennifer Lynton even appeared on the red carpet alongside Hopkins in the London premiere of his movie When Eight Bells Toll on March 9, 1971.

In 1972, without any warning Hopkins left his wife and daughter who was only fourteen months old, to be with Jennifer Lynton. Dating one of the biggest stars of Hollywood brought overnight fame for the young production assistant. Additionally, the nature of their relationship along with Hopkins’ cold attitude to his first wife and child brought a lot of negative attention to Jennifer Lynton.

Anthony Hopkins divorced Petronella in 1972 and married Jennifer Lynton on January 13, 1973. By that time the actor was deep in his alcoholism and depression and struggling to keep his act together. It was Lynton, who stood by him and was the guiding force in his slow and arduous process of recovery. Although he struggled with his addiction during the first two years of their marriage, in 1975, Jennifer finally released the statement saying, her husband was no longer a slave to the bottle.

Consequently, this redeemed Jennifer Lynton in the eyes of many, who considered her to be a home wrecker. There was no denying the love and attraction she felt for Hopkins. She was once quoted as saying that, he was exactly what she was looking for as her partner, whether it was his volatile, creative, or eccentric nature.

Jennifer was drastically opposite to Anthony Hopkins and that was the main reason what got her attracted to the Oscar winning actor. However, Anthony Hopkins’ solitary nature and troubled upbringing would eventually spill into their happy married life. Rumours of him cheating on her with multiple women include Joyce Ingalls and Francine Kay began to spread. Things reached a boiling point when Sir Anthony Hopkins, who was based in Los Angeles, decided to become a US citizen. Jennifer Lynton who was living in London, England, flatly refused and this led to their divorce. It was finalized on March 30, 2002.

In an interview later, Hopkins revealed that he had been living separately for years before the divorce was finalized. Added to that, rumours of him dating Colombian born antique dealer, Stella Arroyave, had begun to surface in 2001, before his divorce with Lynton. He later married Stella in 2003. Jennifer never made a public statement regarding any of these out of respect.