Rufus Sewell’s fiance Vivian Benitez jokes about their age difference as she celebrates her 27th birthday after announcing her engagement

Rufus Sewell’s fiancée Vivian Benitez made fun of their age difference a day after they announced their engagement.

The actress celebrated her 27th birthday during a romantic trip in Rome, Italy with partner Rufus, 56.

She wore a blue sweater and beige pants as she held a glass of wine in a mirror selfie.

Alongside the photo, Vivian wrote on Instagram: “Please let anyone concerned about our age difference know that it’s okay now, I turned 27 this morning.”

Rufus and Vivian seemed happier than ever when they announced their engagement on Tuesday.

The actor, who played love rat Jasper in the festive film The Holiday, popped the question to the American actress, who is thirty years younger than him. This will be the third time Rufus has tied the knot.

Vivian – who has starred in Arsenal, Criminal Minds and Sky Dancers Grown Up – shared a photo of the pair cuddling on social media, as well as the beautiful diamond ring Rufus gave her.

She wrote in the caption: ‘Till death (or he continues to walk on bath mats in his outdoor shoes) do us part.’

It appears Rufus popped the question during a romantic getaway in Rome, when Vivian shared a photo of herself in the city a day prior to their exciting announcement.

A host of Vivian’s friends took to the comments section of the engagement post to share their congratulations.

A family member wrote: ‘You guys are soooo good together. this makes my heart sing: we have a wedding to plan!”

Others wrote: ‘Oh my god!! The best couple. Congratulations you two, so much love to you both!” and ‘I’m so excited!!!!! YEAH!!’.

The couple keeps their relationship relatively private, but have made a few red carpet appearances together over the years.

In 2021, they put on a loving display at the New York premiere of Old and Rufus can sometimes be seen in Vivian’s Instagram posts.

Rufus’ first wife was his long-term girlfriend, Australian fashion journalist Yasmin Abdallah, 47.

Yasmin met Rufus in Australia at the age of 19, and the couple married in 1999 when Yasmin was 23. They divorced in 2000.

Yasmin previously spoke about their short-lived marriage in an interview with Elle.

She met Rufus in a bar in Australia and after several months of dating, they moved to Britain and mixed with the Primrose Hill set.

“I don’t know if I was accepted to be honest… a strange, shaved Aussie-Lebanese girl who didn’t quite fit in with the mix,” she said.

“I ended up making some bad decisions, some bad business decisions, and I ended up losing the store, which was devastating to me. Rufus and I were no longer together, and that was quite traumatic. I was broken. It was a time of great loss. But it was also a time of great healing, when I went on – dare I say it – a spiritual journey.”

The actor married his second wife, screenwriter and producer Amy Gardner, in 2004. Unfortunately, they divorced in 2006.

They are parents of one son, William Douglas. Amy subsequently married film producer Will Ricker.

Rufus previously said that both Amy and his son William would visit him on set. He told The Telegraph: “They came to my place for lunch every day, and I went home in the evening. I think it was a bit like a normal track because it felt very stable.”

Rufus also has a daughter named Lola, 10, from his relationship with Ami Komai.

Rufus previously said of his love life in an interview with the Mail: ‘It’s always been important to be in a relationship if I’m in one, but I don’t actively look for one.

“I’ve experienced being away from someone for a long time, but that hasn’t happened in a while.”

And these are busy times for the actor, who will star as Prince Andrew in a new adaptation of Newsnight’s impressive interview with the Duke.

But the heartthrob will reportedly wear facial prosthetics to make him look ‘less handsome’ for his role in the show, which will chronicle the story behind Newsnight’s interview with Andrew.

In the film adaptation, which will be titled Scoop, Gillian Anderson will play Emily Maitlis, who grilled Andrew about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in the 2019 interview.

The film will be based on the book Scoops: Behind The Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews, former BBC producer Sam’s story of how she gained access to Andrew for the infamous interview, which aired in November 2019.

The role couldn’t be further removed from the brooding Lord Melbourne in ITV’s smash hit series Victoria.

The actor said on This Morning that he had no idea how popular his portrayal of the British Prime Minister would be in the series in which Jenna Coleman played the monarch of Melbourne.

“I was in America when it came out, I spoke to Jenna to see what was going on, it surprised me,” he explained.

‘At my age it’s quite nice to be objectified! After complaining about it for years, I thought, “Thank you very much!”