When it comes to Idris Elba’s love life, most fans only know that the A-List actor is a father and that he had a low-profile romance with K. Michelle. But there’s more to the story than most people know, and now a woman has come forward and is claiming that she was Elba’s secret second wife.
According to media reports, Elba recently ended his long-term relationship with Naiyana Garth, the British mother of his two-year-old son, Winston, and the woman he was with after his whirlwind relationship with K. Michelle. Although Garth has remained silent about her relationship with Elba, K. Michelle has claimed that her heart was broken by the British star. But it looks like she isn’t the only one who was heartbroken by Elba because a woman named Sonya Hamlin recently spoke to the press and claimed that she was Elba’s second wife and that he kept her a secret from the world.
Hamlin, who is a property lawyer from Maryland, says that she and Elba were introduced by a mutual friend in 2006, when he was still trying to make the transition from TV shows like “The Wire” to breaking into the film industry. Although Hamlin was more successful in her career at that point, the two of them were intent on supporting each other. And after only a few months, the two eloped in Vegas.
“We had been together several months already, and knew it was right. We were both madly in love by then, and we were like, ‘Let’s just do it!’ We were both excited. It was a mutual decision. As far as we were concerned, we were going to spend the rest of our lives together,” Hamlin explained.
However, Hamlin says that Elba was under extreme pressure from the industry and his friends to have a hot, young “bombshell” at his side and that he needed to play up an image of a hot bachelor.
“Some people used to say, ‘Why her?” That’s what they were telling him. It used to upset him. He was like, ‘Why don’t people just let me be happy?'” Hamlin explained. “I couldn’t understand how it would damage his career because I saw actors like Denzel [Washington] be successfully married. But I don’t think those actors’ wives are running law firms.”
She added, “People were telling him he was going to ruin his career. ‘He was being told it was an important part of his image to be a single sex symbol in Hollywood and being married would damage that.”
Unfortunately, the scrutiny began to weigh on their marriage and Hamlin began to realize that their relationship was falling apart.
‘It was very sad. Idris and I were madly in love, but he was getting a lot of flak for being married. Everyone was like, “Dude, you’re the hottest sex symbol!” Hamlin explained. ‘“It wasn’t the right look”, that’s what they were telling him. I wanted to save the marriage.’
Unfortunately, after only six weeks of marriage, Elba decided to divorce Hamlin.
“It wasn’t easy for either of us,” Hamlin explained. “We sat down here in Maryland and decided we were going to file. We wavered a couple of times. We were both just sad. He hugged me, of course. It was very sad.’”
“It was just bad timing,” she added. “Ultimately, it was a mutual decision.”
Despite the heartbreaking split, Hamlin says that she’s now in a loving relationship and that she and Elba are still friends and that they speak on the phone every few weeks. However, she claims she questions if she was the last woman Elba ever truly loved.
“Maybe anything after that wasn’t genuine, otherwise he would have married them,” she said. “I’d be happy for him if he got married again, and he genuinely loved that person. I’m not a jealous person. I want him to be happy, just like I’m sure he wants me to be happy. I don’t think he’s ever going to have a problem being lonely.”
