{"id":67998,"date":"2023-11-03T20:55:37","date_gmt":"2023-11-03T20:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/talkcelnews.com\/?p=67998"},"modified":"2023-11-03T20:55:37","modified_gmt":"2023-11-03T20:55:37","slug":"richard-ayoades-rocky-relationship-with-brother-in-law-laurence-fox-including-race-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/talkcelnews.com\/tv-movies\/richard-ayoades-rocky-relationship-with-brother-in-law-laurence-fox-including-race-row\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Ayoades rocky relationship with brother-in-law Laurence Fox including race row"},"content":{"rendered":"

Travel Man star Richard Ayoade has an unusual connection to former GB News presenter Laurence Fox.<\/p>\n

The IT Crowd star and comedian is married to Laurence\u2019s sister, Lydia, making the pair brothers-in-law.<\/p>\n

However, while Richard, 46, and Laurence, 45, are seemingly on good terms, that hasn't always been the case.<\/p>\n

During an interview with The Sunday Times, Laurence explained that he\u2019d briefly fallen out with his brother-in-law following an appearance on Question Time in 2020. <\/p>\n

His stint on political chat show saw Laurence accuse a woman of colour of racism after she called him a \u201cwhite privileged male\u201d.<\/p>\n

Laurence had earlier called the discussion surrounding the Meghan Markle race row \u201cboring\u201d and claimed: \u201cIt\u2019s not racism. We\u2019re the most tolerant lovely country in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

His comments prompted a huge backlash on social media while the Race Equality Committee of the actors\u2019 union Equity, denounced him as \u201ca disgrace to our industry\u201d. Laurence has claimed he has struggled to get work in film or TV since.<\/p>\n

Laurence, who was previously married to Billie Piper, told the publication that he and Richard, who was "furious", subsequently fell out.<\/p>\n

Laurence went on to recall how, in the thick of the criticism, he "begged" Richard for help, but the comedian "was like what, [support you] on Twitter? It\u2019s not real. It doesn\u2019t exist, it\u2019s mad. Stay away from it all. You know who I am and I know who you are".<\/p>\n

Richard, who is half-Nigerian, then told Laurence: "You have never encountered racism," to which the actor responded: "Yeah, of course I have. I\u2019ve encountered racism from black people towards me, when I was working in Kenya [as a safari driver] for seven months. It\u2019s the way you\u2019re spoken to \u2014 racism can be deferential."<\/p>\n

Laurence later stated in the interview that he\u2019s "not denying privilege and I\u2019m not denying racism".<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

While Richard and Lydia typically invite the family round every Sunday for lunch but Laurence revealed: "There were a couple of weekends I didn\u2019t go."<\/p>\n

He also confirmed that he and Richard are \u201call friends now\u201d.<\/p>\n

While Richard and Lydia have largely kept their relationship private, only giving a glimpse inside their romance during appearances on the red carpet, the pair married in 2007.<\/p>\n

Together the couple share three children and live in London.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The creative couple first started dating while at university as they both studied at the University of Cambridge, though were based at different colleges.<\/p>\n

While Lydia studied at Newnham College, Richard attended St Catharine\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The two met during a university theatre performance where Lydia was in the audience and Richard was onstage.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n