Russell Crowe, the 48-year-old New Zealand-born actor, is said to be casually seeing the ex-wife of Billy Joel, Katie Lee, 31.
According to the Daily Mail , the pair was spotted cuddling in front of a fireplace in the Drawing Room at the Greenwich Hotel in New York at 3am on Sunday morning and later that day around 2 pm.
A source tells Page Six :
“They seemed to be in an intense flirtatious conversation. They looked really into each other.”
Russell Crowe has been in New York City to film A Winter’s Tale with Collin Farrell and Darren Aronofsky’s biblical epic Noah . He recently attended the New York City premiere of Les Miserables , the musical, at Midetown’s Ziegfeld Theatre to promote his highly anticipated movie, which is scheduled to open to the public in theaters Christmas Day.
This new romance comes just weeks after Russell Crowe announced the breakup of his nine-year marriage to his wife, the 43-year-old dancer, Danielle Spencer. Russell Crowe met Spencer when the two played lovers in the 1990 movie The Crossing , and they have two young sons together, aged 8 and 6. Crowe announced the separation in late October of this year.
While Russell Crowe is in New York for work, Katie Lee calls the city home. She is a TV food critic and is part of Chefs for Humanity, a group that provides humanitarian aid worldwide.
Katie wed Billy Joel in New York October 2004 when she was 23 and he was 55 after a one year courtship. However, it appeared the 32 year age gap eventually caused problems, and they split in 2009.