Toxic divorce that left me homeless and on benefits by actress Lysette Anthony, once hailed as 'The Face of the 80s'

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Back in the days when Lysette Anthony could command £200,000 a movie, and her porcelain features granted her access to Hollywood’s A-list, she never imagined she would end up here.

‘Rough’ is the word Lysette uses to describe the pocket of North London where she now lives with her ten-year-old son Jimi. Geographically, it’s not that far from the elegant home which sold for nearly £1.7 million in the wake of the toxic break-up from Jimi’s father, Bafta-nominated composer Simon Boswell — but it may as well be on another planet.

The actress — dubbed ‘The Face of the Eighties’ by David Bailey whose pictures catapulted her to fame age 16 — trembles as tells of the dramas she’s encountered since moving here in 2011.

‘My house almost burnt down when someone set fire to the roof terrace, and I’ve had obscenities painted on my door,’ says Lysette, now 51.

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Lysette Anthony (pictured) was a succesful Hollywood actress who never imagined she would be living in an area where abuse was hurled at her on the street and her house was almost burnt down

‘Gangs of hoodies would congregate outside, shouting abuse and threatening to put dog mess through my letterbox, and there have been drug busts nearby. It’s been a bit hairy.

‘But even though I’m small in stature, I stood up to them and told them to take their hoods off when they talked to me. I thought, “I’m either going to be stabbed or I’m going to build a relationship” — and there’s something to be said for hugging a hoodie.

‘They are very respectful to me now, and when I walk down the street they ask, “How are you today?”

‘At first it was terrifying, but I feel safe here now. There’s a real sense of community, and what I see are young people who’ve been badly let down by society and just need a chance.’

Besides, the three-storey ‘wreck’ Lysette has transformed into a little oasis of loveliness in this yet-to-be gentrified urban desert of predominantly social housing, certainly beats being homeless — a state which Lysette claims to have had some experience.

This week, the twice-divorced actress, who appeared in Woody Allen’s Husbands And Wives in 1992 and with John Travolta in Look Who’s Talking Now the following year, revealed she was left ‘homeless and on welfare’ for a while as a result of expensive divorces and the acrimonious break-up from Simon, who .

The last was a particularly toxic public split, marred by bitter accusations which left both sides deeply wounded. In 2011, Simon was cleared in court of assaulting Lysette — an experience he described as a ‘Kafkaesque nightmare’ which left his ‘good reputation shredded’.

Meanwhile, Lysette furiously denied Simon’s claims that she’d cheated on him with a mutual friend, denouncing the accusation ‘cowardly’ and ‘disgusting’.

For months, Lysette refused to budge from the family home, while Simon was displaced from the house he owned. When it was finally sold and the assets frozen while lawyers tried to thrash out an agreement, Lysette’s purchase of a new flat fell through. For three months, she lived with Jimi in a friend’s spare room.

Unable to work, she says at one point they existed on just £75 a week and owed lawyers almost £20,000. Her weight dropped to six stones.

‘It’s one thing to be broke when you only have yourself to worry about, but quite another when you have a child,’ she says. ‘It was horrendous. I think I lived on nothing but courgettes and feta cheese for three months.

‘After dinner with friends, I would clear the plates and secretly finish the left-overs in the kitchen because I was so hungry. I was too proud to ask for hand-outs.’

Today, after a year of therapy and three years of soul-searching, Lysette blames no one but herself — with the exception, perhaps, of lawyers, who she believes turned a bitter break-up into a war.

She declares it a ‘bloody miracle’ that she and Simon are now on speaking terms. They both adore their son, and have put aside their differences to work together as parents for Jimi’s benefit.

As the main breadwinner in her two failed marriages, she says she lost half her assets in the divorces; but as an unmarried partner, she had hardly any rights.

‘I call that whole period “Nut-gate” because it all went bonkers for a while,’ she says. It was the height of the fury and upset that goes on when people are splitting up — and it was pretty bloody.’

The twice-divorced actress, who appeared in Woody Allen’s Husbands And Wives in 1992 and with John Travolta (pictured) in Look Who’s Talking Now the following year

She concedes that Simon was the main breadwinner, who bought their home and paid most bills.

Lysette says she may not have put anything financially into the property, but she still invested in the relationship. ‘The money I earned went towards us having a very nice life together. I cooked, cleaned, cared for our son who was very ill with juvenile arthritis.

‘There was a lot of hurt, a lot of anger, but since then Simon has been a model father. He has acted honourably and done more financially than any judge ever would have ordered.

‘I’m a real advocate for people getting off their butts and working, but as a mother I can’t just take off for weeks to film a series.’

On the wall of Lysette’s kitchen is pinned the famous David Bailey portrait which turned her into a star. She looks incredibly pretty, but all Lysette can see is a young woman full of insecurity.

The only child of late actor Michael Anthony and his beautiful actress wife Bernadette Milnes, who died two years ago, Lysette’s parents split up when she was eight years old.

She hardly saw her father after the break-up, and witnessed the descent of her adored mother into manic depression and schizophrenia. Lysette says she has been searching all her life to create the perfect family she never had.

At 24, she fell in love with Dutch-born actor and arts administrator Luc Leestemaker, and they moved to the U.S.

Just as Lysette’s career took off, Luc gave up his job to become a painter. They wed in 1991, but it ended when Lysette fell for married director David Price, whom she met on the set of 1995’s Dr Jekyll and Ms Hyde.

Lysette remains consumed with guilt over her affair with Price, the father of two young sons.

‘I split up David’s marriage and I am so ashamed of that. I started paying his wife alimony of $5,000 a month as I felt so guilty. I should never have even started that relationship, let alone married him.’

Again, Lysette claims she was the main breadwinner — taking on awful acting jobs to maintain their lifestyle. They married in 1999, but divorced in 2003.

Lysette pictured here with her former husband Simon Boswell in 2004. They have now put their differences aside and work together to look after their ten-year-old son Jimi

‘I’ve been absolutely devastated by every single relationship in one way or another,’ she says.

From now on, she is determined to break the destructive pattern.

She is also branching out professionally, and has formed a production company, PerfectFeatures, with friend Rachel Chatterjee. Deals for two major dramas have already been signed.

But she admits that without an inheritance from her mother, she’d be ‘stacking shelves in Tesco’.

‘It has been a fight to get back on our feet,’ says Lysette, who has a new boyfriend but will say nothing other than that he is younger than her and has ‘a proper job’.

‘I’ve not had a great time, but no one need feel sorry for me. I am happy and genuinely fulfilled.’