Stanley Tucci is a beloved actor with a solid range of Hollywood contacts today (even though he's struggled with some industry controversies), but years ago, he was involved in a scandal that had fans and those close to him completely baffled.
Though he was married at the time, Stanley Tucci started a relationship with his co-star Edie Falco. That flame did fizzle out, but the brief affair marked an odd period in Stanley's Hollywood timeline that people have all but forgotten about.
Stanley Tucci And Edie Falco Met On The Set Of A Play
Edie Falco and Stanley Tucci's affair was a surprise to the world when the news came, but it could be said that, at first, it was surprising for them as well. They met while working together in the 2002 Broadway revival of Frankie and Johnny, which had them doing intimate scenes that for most of the time were more embarrassing than sexy.
"This play is about two people who are [being intimate], and there's sort of no way to make an audience believe it if when you get out of bed you have your clothes on," Edie said. And truthfully, Falco was good at creating chemistry with her co-stars, including James Gandolfini.
Ironically, it was the fact that Stanley wasn't single that made her feel more comfortable with him. ''I trust Stan implicitly," she explained at the time. "He's in love with his wife and has a family, so it's not as weird as it might be were that not the case.''
Of course, knowing what we know now, it's a little bit funny to read that. At the time of the affair, it seemed, Stanley's marriage was going through a rough patch. Their relationship was short-lived, though, as they both realized that they had made a mistake.
Edie herself said that she did not mean to hurt anyone and was happy when Stanley decided to give his marriage another chance.
"We were together and then we broke up. Because there's no way for that to be a good thing," she said curtly. "He's a lovely man, and he's back with his wife and kids, and I'm thrilled."
Stanley Tucci And Edie Falco Had A Previous Connection
Although Edie and Stanley met in 2002, the two of them had a connection that preceded any of them becoming famous. The truth is, Edie knew about him long before Stanley met her, not only because of his work in show business but because he had attended the same college as her, SUNY Purchase, but he left the university before she enrolled.
She also implied that she used to have a crush on him because he was kind of like a legend on campus, even when he was no longer a student.
"There were posters everywhere: 'Stanley Tucci!' Like the captain of the football team that they all still talk about," she laughed. "We all (had a crush on him) in college, too. He was like the boy who made good. He started working on Broadway immediately out of school — the shining example of what we all wanted to be."
The fact that Edie admired Stanley so much might have been a factor that contributed to the two actors becoming so close while working together.
Stanley Almost Ruined His First Marriage
While Stanley Tucci and his first wife, Kathryn Spath, undoubtedly loved each other very much, their marriage had to overcome several difficulties. His affair with Edie Falco was certainly among the most important ones, however short-lived.
By that time he and Kate had been married for over 15 years, and after Stanley owned up to his mistake and Kate forgave him, they chose each other and their family all over again.
Sadly, that second honeymoon didn't last long, and just a few years later, Kathryn was diagnosed with breast cancer, which ended her life in 2009. The couple remained strong through those hard times, reportedly traveling all over the world to find all sorts of treatments, but eventually, they had to say the most devastating of goodbyes.
To this day, Stanley still misses his wife. "You never stop grieving," he said in early 2021.
"It's still hard after 11 years. It's still hard. And it will always be hard. But you can't let it... and she would never want any of us to ever wallow in that grief and let it take over our lives. She would never want that. She wasn't like that."
People Have Forgotten About The Falco-Tucci Affair
Even the juiciest of gossip dies down eventually, and the Falco-Tucci affair is no exception. Maybe because of how short it actually was, or because of everything that Stanley and his wife had to go through after, but the fact remains that most people have let it go. Nowadays, both Edie and Stanley have moved on.
Edie is still a successful actress playing great roles in movies like the Avatar franchise and shows like Impeachment: American Crime Story. She's also the proud mother of a son and a daughter she adopted in 2005 and 2008 respectively.
Stanley went on to marry literary agent Felicity Blunt, his Devil Wears Prada co-star Emily Blunt's older sister, in 2012, and went on to have two kids with her, in addition to the three children he had with his late wife and his two step-children, who he helped raise.
Despite acknowledging that their affair was a bad idea from the start, both Edie and Stanley seem to remember each other fondly, and that chapter of their lives ended long ago.
