Dominic Monaghan Said His Addiction Pushed Ex Evangeline Lilly to Cheat

Actor Dominic Monaghan opened up about his relationship with his Lost co-star, Evangeline Lilly, saying that his battle with addiction was a factor that pushed Lilly into someone else's arms.

As a guest on Anna Faris' podcast Unqualified, in which she discusses relationship advice with Hollywood stars, The Lord of the Rings actor discussed what it was like to be cheated on by Lilly.

"I've only really got my heart broken once in my life," he said. "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."

The pair dated from 2004 to 2007, while they worked together on the hit TV series Lost, which ran from 2004 to 2010. In the three years they dated, Monaghan said that they had been discussing marriage and a family, but he was struggling with addictions to drugs and alcohol that hindered them.

"I was always the guy that wanted more. I always wanted to drink more, take more, stay up the latest, go on benders. And I just thought that she was OK with that," he told Faris. "I think probably she was consistently exploring the idea of like, 'Well, this is OK for a time, but, you know, he's not gonna be a great dad or a great husband because he's got all this work to do,' which I certainly did."

He added, "I think she was kind of looking around to see what else was an option, and unfortunately, there was a little bit of a crossover, which was pretty upsetting for me. It just kind of exploded in my face."

Monaghan nor Lilly commented publicly on the breakup in 2007. However, after Lilly debuted in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit franchise as she-elf Tauriel, Monaghan tweeted a response to a message that read "Evangeline looked unreal in the Hobbit, man oh man," writing, "Nah. I don't date cheaters."

Regarding the break-up and the news that Lilly cheated on him, Monaghan said in the podcast that he was "devastated," but has since found the experience to be the push he needed to work through his own struggles.

"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. It was just never gonna work. There were things that weren't gonna work out,'" he said. "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.'

"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," he added.

Newsweek reached out to a representative for Monaghan and Lilly for comment.