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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Isobel Lewis

Bill Nighy delights fans as he reads Sylvia Plath on the tube in viral TikTok

@emmalawlor/TikTok

Bill Nighy has gone viral on TikTok after being filmed reading Sylvia Plath on the tube.

In a clip shared on the video app by user Emma Lawler, the Love Actually star could be seen reading Plath’s seminal text The Bell Jar while sat down on the London underground.

The footage delighted fans, with one commenting: “Not him reading The Bell Jar. I can’t with this man.”

“He’s a sylvia plath stan,” another TikTok user joked about the 72-year-old actor, while one fan added: “Love that he’s reading The Bell Jar.”

The Bell Jar? Yes sir,” one social media follower said, with another writing: “He gets it.”

One comment read: “Hope he’s ok that book is ROUGH.”

Published in 1963, The Bell Jar is seen as a metaphor for Plath’s mental health issues.

The author died by suicide one month after it was first published in the UK.

In a recent interview, Nighy opened up about running away to Paris at the age of 15, calling the letter he wrote to his father “the most embarrassing piece of tosh you’ve ever read in your life”.

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