Jack Whitehall's parents, Hilary and Michael, risked the wrath of an unamused James Corden in a rather awkward dressing room encounter. The couple recently bumped into James, 47, at Jack's star-studded wedding to model Roxy Horner on Saturday. While the raucous event seemingly went off without any major clashes, Hilary admitted in 2011 she had a tense chat with the Cats star.
Speaking on her podcast, The Wittering Whitehalls, with husband Michael, 86, she revealed James had been frustrated by chat about a new house. The 64-year-old podcast host shared: 'We bought this house from Lulu's son, Jordan Frieda, literally the day after we exchanged on this property, we went to see James Corden in One Man, Two Guvnors.' They had gone with Jack, 37, so had been invited into the dressing room after the National Theatre production had ended.
James and the Bad Education star go way back, having worked together on A League Of Their Own and in the comedy circuit over the years. Hilary continued: 'The only other guest in the dressing room after the show was Lulu. So I went over and said: "Hello, you don't know me. I'm Hilary Whitehall, Jack Whitehall's mum." 'We were there with Jack and I said, "Really bizarrely, we've just bought your son's house". 'And she went, "Oh I can't believe he's sold it. I love that house. Oh my goodness me, I'm so thrilled it's gone to some people who are going to look after it… blah blah blah."' The women chatted for '20 minutes' about this house, which the couple had closed on that day, much to James' dismay.
He chimed in: 'Is there any danger we can talk about the play you've just watched that I've been in for two-and-a-half hours?' Michael smirked and noted that 'James wasn't at all pleased' to have spent his post-show debrief nattering about a house. 15 years on, and they seem to have smoothed things over with James, who was also included in Jack's reportedly wild stag do.
The wedding itself was held at Euridge Manor, a 17th-century venue in the Cotswolds, with famous guests like Jamie Redknapp, Douglas Booth, and Freddie Flintoff. Roxy wore a strapless silk Galia Lahav gown and veil for the ceremony with Alaia Le Coeur heels, complete with a diamond necklace, earrings, bracelet, and ring by Roxanne Assoulin. Jack, however, had some outfit troubles as he revealed to British Vogue he had to wear his back-up Dunhill suit after swatting down to pick up their daughter, Elsie. 'My trousers split, my whole ass was hanging out,' he confessed, meaning his Tom Ford suit had to be abandoned.
While on SNL UK, Jack joked he had little input into the wedding, calling himself a 'wall with a cash machine in it' during his monologue. That's not strictly true as the £250,000 bash kicked off with the comedian rowing across a lake in a grand gesture as all his mates shouted 'shagger' – we doubt that was Roxy's idea. The rest of the ceremony was much more traditional with brother Barnaby acting as his best man, while Elsie, two, was a flower girl. Jack and Roxy first made their relationship official at the start of lockdown in 2020 and announced their engagement in December 2024.
