Singer Ellie Goulding has been in touch with her Tory pal Lord Zac Goldsmith since her separation from husband Caspar Jopling.
Ellie, 36, and Zac are understood to have become friends last year over their joint interest in the green agenda. It was reported this week that the Love Me Like You Do star is spending time apart from her 31-year-old husband of four years.
And one source today tells how left-leaning Ellie and Tory peer Zac, 48 –who announced his shock resignation as a Conservative minister on Friday – have been “in touch”.
The unlikely pals were first pictured together in June last year. And Zac – who split from wife of 10 years Alice Rothschild in March – is now said to have been “understanding” towards Ellie as they both undergo major life changes.
The former MP’s decision to quit on Friday came as he blasted Rishi Sunak for being “simply uninterested” in environmental issues.
The source said: “Ellie and Zac met some time ago and became pals. They have been in touch since Ellie and Caspar decided to separate and she has shared what she is going through.
“Having experienced the breakdown of his own marriage, Zac has been very sympathetic to her experience.”
There is no suggestion their friendship played any part in the breakdown of her marriage to Caspar, or his split from Alice, 40.
They were pictured smiling as they walked together after lunch at West End restaurant The Garden in June 2022, both holding copies of Rewilding The Sea, by Charles Clover.
They both attended the COP27 conference in Egypt last November. Ellie, a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme, spoke at the Sharm-el-Sheik conference, while Zac attended as environment minister.
The source added: “Ellie and Zac’s friendship might seem like an unlikely one, but they have shared interests. Zac was sorry to hear that Ellie and Caspar had decided to spend time apart and so, like many of her other friends, apparently offered her help if she needed it.”
A source told the Sun: “They are close friends but there is no romance involved".
Ellie and art dealer Caspar – who were introduced by mutual friend Princess Beatrice – married in York Minster in 2019.
They had son Arthur two years later.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were invited to the wedding, eight years after Ellie performed at their reception.
But when her fifth studio album Higher Than Heaven was released in April, Caspar’s name was absent from her list of people to thank. Speaking to Vogue, Ellie said it was her least personal yet, saying: “I just wasn’t really in the mood to write ballads.”
She added: “My life is so far from perfect, and things are changing all the time.”
A month later she was pictured without engagement or wedding rings outside Broadcasting House. This week, she attended the Serpentine Summer Party with Caspar – but no rings. A source close to the couple said they still live together and would continue to co-parent son Arthur. Zac Goldsmith declined to comment.
