Why HAS Rowan Atkinson's girl ditched her dad's name? Burlesque dancer daughter adopts her mother's maiden name

• e-mail

When comic Rowan Atkinson’s daughter, Lily, launched her career as a burlesque dancer and singer two years ago, it was not just her sultry vocals and racy outfits that attracted interest, but her father’s world- famous surname.

Now, however, 22-year-old Lily has ditched the Atkinson and adopted the maiden name of her mother, Sunetra Sastry, whom the Blackadder star dumped for a woman little older than his daughter.

‘It’s a real mystery,’ says one of Lily’s admirers. ‘Atkinson has been Lily’s name all her life, but she’s now dropped it and is styling herself as Lily Sastry.

Family day out: Lily, Rowan Atkinson and Sunetra Sastry at a 2011 premiere

‘I hope she hasn’t fallen out with her dad. The divorce was really hard for everyone in the family.’

After a string of successful performances in London last year, including at St James Theatre, Lily suddenly disappeared from social media — the only platform she relied on to promote her work and forthcoming gigs — leaving her 45,000 followers in the lurch. 

She also deleted her entire catalogue of posts on the picture-sharing website Instagram over the past two years.

But what has now really set tongues wagging is her decision to eradicate all traces of her father from her public profile. I disclosed in 2014 that Atkinson’s 24-year marriage to former BBC make-up artist Sunetra, 55, had hit the rocks and that he had a new woman in his life.

Lily has ditched the Atkinson and adopted the maiden name of her mother, Sunetra Sastry, whom the Black-adder star dumped for a woman little older than his daughter

New love: Atkinson met Louise Ford, a 33-year-old actress, while they appeared in the play Quartermaine's Terms in 2013

She was subsequently named as Louise Ford, a 33-year-old actress he met while they appeared in the play Quartermaine’s Terms in 2013.

Last year, it was reported that Atkinson, 62, had moved Louise into his £4.65 million cottage in North London just weeks after his divorce from Sunetra, with whom he also has a 23-year-old son, Benjamin.

Lily is planning to release an album next year, which she appeared to confirm this week when she suddenly broke her social media silence with this racy picture in which a topless Lily sports a translucent skirt (above). Hinting at a release date for her new music, she wrote: ‘14.02.18. The process begins.’

While Atkinson has insisted he is ‘on board’ with Lily’s career choice, he was pictured apparently falling asleep in the audience when she performed in Chelsea last year.

The comedian could not be reached. Lily’s spokesman would not comment on why she dropped Atkinson’s name, but insisted: ‘There is no truth in the idea that Rowan and Lily have fallen out.’

Jeremy Vine's Strictly starkers confession 

This is a dangerous confession: Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine admits he exposed himself to a make-up artist on Strictly Come Dancing, after being tricked by professional hoofer Aljaz Skorjanec.

‘I asked Aljaz whether you keep your pants on for the spray tan,’ Vine recalls. ‘“No,” replied Aljaz. “Dancing is for the whole body.” ’ Vine duly ventured into the tanning room and dropped his towel, only to hear the woman doing the spraying gasp, ‘Well, that’s one off my bucket list,’ and to spy dance partner Karen Clifton in a mirror on the wall.

‘Which meant [she] could see me.’ 

Let’s hope neither woman sues the BBC.

• Members of the Lawn Tennis Association will be delighted to see the Duchess of Cambridge tomorrow when she visits its London HQ as the new patron. Her visit is unlikely to go down so well at Clarence House. It’s Kate’s first solo outing since her pregnancy was announced, so she’ll be guaranteed much coverage. Awkwardly, it clashes with the first day of Prince Charles and Camilla’s tour of Singapore, Malaysia and India. Let’s hope they don’t mind being shoved out of the limelight.

• Spare a thought for Ed ‘posh’ Stourton. During Saturday’s 60th anniversary edition of Radio 4’s Today, several ex-presenters were invited to do a turn, including Sue MacGregor. But Stourton, who worked on the show for ten years until he was ditched in 2009 for being too patrician, had to sit with members of the public at London’s Wigmore Hall. In fact, Ed’s not half as posh as one of the current presenters, Sarah Montague, who has rejoiced in the title Lady Brooke since her hotelier husband, Sir Christopher Brooke, inherited a baronetcy. Stourton was magnanimous to a fault, telling me: ‘I was pleased to be asked.’