The way they were. Dominic Monaghan is reflecting on his past relationship with his former Lost costar Evangeline Lilly.
“I think I’ve only really got my heart broken once in my life,” the Moonhaven actor, 45, recalled on Anna Faris’ podcast “Unqualified” on Wednesday, August 31. “I was dating an actress on Lost called Evangeline Lilly, who, you know, has gone on to have a name all of her own. And yeah, you know, I don’t really know how she would explain the narrative, but from my point of view, it was probably the first time in my life that I was just kind of all in.”
Though he said he was a committed boyfriend to Lilly, 43, whom he dated from 2003 to 2007, he admitted to having “an extraordinary amount of growing to do in terms of handling my substances and handling my choices.”
The Lord of the Rings actor noted that due to his British upbringing, it wasn’t uncommon for someone to begin drinking alcohol as a teenager.
“And that’s not like a glass of wine or a pint of beer. That’s like getting absolutely wankered on a Friday and Saturday night and maybe a Sunday afternoon,” he explained. “I thought that was normal. And I had a huge amount of growing to do in terms of what was normal and what wasn’t normal.”
The former pair met on the set of the sci-fi ABC series, which ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2010. Lilly portrayed Kate Austen for the entirety of the show’s run while Monaghan played Charlie Pace for all but the fifth season.
The Chuck performer went on to reveal in the podcast episode that he and the Ant-Man actress went their separate ways when he found out she began dating someone else.
“I mean, to say I was devastated is an understatement, you know,” Monaghan shared. “I had to be told by a third party like, ‘You do realize that she’s with this guy,’ when we were together. And I was like, ‘Wait, what?; And this person was like, ‘Yeah,'” he recalled.
Despite the heartbreak, the West Berlin native noted that he was still grateful for the relationship he shared with Lilly.
“I’ve broken up with girls before, and when I’ve looked at it I’ve thought, ‘Well, she’s a lovely person, but it was never gonna work,'” he explained. “But certainly, when I was with Evie, I was like, ‘This is fine. The little things that, you know, we’re working on, we will figure out. And we will make beautiful shapes with each other into eternity.’ And I think like, losing that potential was super sad. But it also got me to where I am as a person. So I’m very happy that it all happened.”
Lilly, for her part, was previously married to Murray Hone from 2003 to 2004. Following her split from Monaghan, she began a relationship with actor Norman Kali in 2010. The pair welcomed a son, Kahekili, in May 2011, and a daughter in October 2015.
