Liberty Ross has finally spoken out about her husband Rupert Sanders’ affair with his Show White and the Huntsman star Kristen Stewart. The affair obsessed tabloids for months, as Stewart ended her relationship with Robert Pattinson and it broke up Sanders and Ross’ 16-year marriage. Ross spoke to Vanity Fair about the ordeal in the magazine’s December issue.
“It was horrible,” she told the magazine. “It was really the worst, really the worst.”
In the interview, Ross, a model and actress, said that she had “no words” for what she went through. However, she has chosen to take a positive spin on it. “But I think, for me, something always has to completely die for there to be a rebirth. And, for me, I feel like I’m going through a rebirth,” she said.
Vanity Fair also spoke with those who know Ross and Sanders, including Ross’ brother, Atticus, who reflected on the impact of Us Weekly’s breaking cover story on the affair.
“It was f**king crazy,” Atticus said, revealing that at that point, Sanders was still trying to deny the affair. Atticus said his attention immediately turned to trying to protect his sister. “I knew this had all the makings of what our world has become,” he said. “This is going to be f**king big, and Liberty needs to be protected. It was about it not destroying [Liberty]. I don’t think people understand what being in the eye of that storm is like.”
According to the NY Daily News, Ross said that Sanders spoke to her about the affair just 20 hours before the tabloids broke the story. As more and more reports about the affair continued to surface, she and her two children lived in a safe haven supplied by a friend of Atticus, where she was “completely secluded.”
After the public apology from Sanders, Ross realized the marriage was beyond repair. While she’s not one to quit, she said, “I’ve done everything I could to be the perfect wife and mother and really support my husband. But I just didn’t have any more to give, you know?”
However, over a year later, she told Vanity Fair that she has forgiven Sanders. “We were together for 16 years, and that in itself is really beautiful,” she said. “And we’ve created two exceptional lives together.”
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