The devastating means James Acaster found his girlfriend Louise Ford, 44, left him for Rowan Atkinson, 70, because the actor’s daughter Lily Sastry opens up about her dad and mom’ divorce

Rowan Atkinson‘s girlfriend Louise Ford was in a relationship with comedian James Acaster before she dated the Mr Bean star – with the comedian previously revealing the devastating way he discovered he’d been dumped.

The stand-up, 40, had been dating Louise Ford, 44, for two years when, in 2014, the pair went through a shock split. 

But it wasn’t until a year later that he discovered she’d moved on with none other than Mr Bean after opening up a copy of The Sun on Sunday.

James made the revelation during a performance in 2019 where he joked with the audience that he was the only person in history who had been left for Mr Bean, who happens to be 26 years older than Louise. 

‘I got left for Mr Bean,’ James joked. ‘I found out a year after we split up. I opened the newspaper and there was a full-page story. No one else in the history of time has ever been left for Mr Bean.’ 

The pair, who had moved in together, began to grow apart while Louise was starring alongside Rowan, 70, in Quartermaine’s Terms at Wyndham’s Theatre in 2013.

But it wasn’t until a year later that he discovered how close they had really become.

Despite the couple living together, Louise fell for the Johnny English star who had only recently separated from his wife of 24 years, Sunetra Sastry.

James went on: ‘I’m a goddamn saint to have kept this in the back pocket so long. It’s my job to say things that are funny and the funniest thing that’s ever happened to anyone, happened to me and I put it on the back-burner out of respect. 

‘Until you get left for Mr Bean, you don’t realise how frequently he pops up. There’s a shop two streets from my house that sells masks of his face. There’s nowhere where I’m going to go that he’s not there.’ 

And the comedian wasn’t the only one left rocked by Rowan and Louise’s budding romance. 

The Blackadder star’s daughter Lily Sastry has spoken out for the first time about her parents’ divorce, revealing their break-up plunged her into ‘darkness’ and ‘chaos’.

Rowan officially separated from Lily’s mother, former BBC make-up artist Sunetra Sastry, in 2015 after 24 years of marriage, although they had been living apart since the previous year.

Sunetra, 67, was granted a ‘quickie’ divorce on the grounds of his ‘unreasonable behaviour’, and he has been in a relationship with actress Louise Ford since.

The budding artist confessed the breakdown of her parents’ relationship left her feeling very lonely during her 20s. 

‘I went through so much chaos and loneliness in my twenties. Now I am 30, I can see clearly where I was at and what was happening inside me during the darkest days,’ Lily said in a new online post.

Rowan and Sunetra were in the middle of building an £11million home in Oxfordshire at the time of their split.

Following the break-up, the Blackadder star moved into a £4million cottage in Hampstead, north London, while Sunetra moved in to a £21million mansion in London, bought for her by Rowan in 2014.

And the upheaval of her family life left Lily struggling with her identity. 

She continued: ‘I was so lost, and only really started to feel vaguely normal in my late twenties. I have always been trapped between worlds; do not belong here, but also don’t belong there.’

Lily changed her surname from Atkinson to her mother’s, Sastry, in 2017, leading to whispers of a possible rift between Lily and the Blackadder star despite him financially backing her fledgling music career.

She now lives in London, and works as a professional artist, recently hosting her debut exhibition at a small independent gallery in the capital last December.

In her post, she wrote: ‘It’s hard to find out who you are in the midst of no friends, a broken family, and no idea how to navigate making music and trying to understand the world.

‘It has taken me years to figure out my life and who I am, as well as become the best person I can be. I have made countless mistakes, and been hurt, lost, and alone many a time.’

She added: ‘Art was my guiding light. The thing that made all the suffering worth it; as I was working towards a goal, a dream.’

Rowan and Sunetra also have a son, Ben Atkinson, 31, who is an officer in the Royal Gurkha Regiment.

Louise and Rowan share a daughter Isla and the actor has recently returned to work after taking time off to focus on bringing up ‘Baby Bean’ while his partner focused on her acting work. 

The actor has starred in the lead role of Chief Inspector Jules Maigret on the ITV series Maigret from 2016 to 2018 and he also starred in Johnny English Strikes Back.

Louise’s acting career has gone from strength to strength recently after she appeared as Kate Middleton in the royal spoof, The Windsors.

A source told The Sun at the time: ‘Rowan has a habit of surprising people – and he has done it again with this announcement.

‘He has said he will take a back seat from work to be with Isla, and this will obviously allow Louise to focus on her career which is going well.’

The insider added that it is a kind gesture from the actor as it means his other half will have more time to focus on her own burgeoning career.