The sequence in Love Actually with Emma Thompson grinning and bearing it as she learns the news that her husband, Harry, depicted by the late Alan Rickman, is having an affair with his assistant Mia is a classic Christmas movie scene.
We also know that Emma’s representation was unforgettable since she modeled it on her real-life experience, which goes beyond her superb acting skills. Since her first husband, Kenneth Branagh, was engaged in a relationship with Helena Bonham Carter, Emma has said that her emotional scenes were so convincing because she was experiencing a “quite terribly broken” heart. Eight years of marriage ended in divorce for Kenneth and Emma.
‘Blind’ to Branagh’s affair: Emma Thompson
Emma openly admitted to being “blinded” to Kenneth’s dishonesty in a November 2022 conversation with The New Yorker. She said that she was “totally, entirely uninformed” of the fact that he had relationships with additional women there. I learned how easily one might fool oneself when trying to fool oneself. “I had a partial life, and any idea that one was desirable or deserving had vanished entirely. Greg Wise, an actor she met while working on the Sense & Sensibility filming, is credited with “picking up the pieces and putting them back together,” according to Emma.
Here is all the information you need to read regarding their relationship, the affair that ended it, and Thompson’s current thoughts on the situation.
1987 marked the first meeting
While making the World War II drama Fortunes of War in 1987, Kenneth and Emma get to know one another for the first time. Thompson admitted to having emotions for Branagh after he started singing to her on filming in a conversation with The New Yorker in November 2022. She recalled that he sounded like my father performing on The Magic Roundabout, and I started crying.
They quickly began dating and kept up their collaborative work effectively. The following year, they collaborated on Thompson, a BBC sketch comedy (unsurprising, written by Thompson).
1989 Marked The Year Of Their Wedding
The couple got married in 1989. The British media dubbed them “the golden couple,” and from all accounts, they appeared to be deeply in Love. They were determined to keep their relationship a secret, so they gave interviews infrequently and opted to present themselves professionally in other situations. They appeared in Look Back in Anger on stage and later in a television adaptation that same year. As co-stars in Dead Again, Peter’s Friends, and Much Ado About Nothing, which Branagh also created, Thompson and Branagh continued their on-screen collaboration for a few more years.
In 1994, Branagh Co-Starred With Helena Bonham Carter
In 1994, Branagh co-starred with renowned British artist Helena Bonham Carter in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The pair had already met in 1988 while they “both participated in a poetry recital on a barge floating down the Thames,” according to an L.A. Cover story.
However, until 1993, when she was hired in Frankenstein, Bonham Carter claimed that she and the actor “never truly sat down and had a proper chat.” Rumors quickly spread that Branagh, who both directed and appeared in the film, had cheated on Thompson due to their on-screen chemistry.
1995 Marked Their Divorce
Having been married for six years by 1995, Branagh and Thompson officially got a divorce. While they stated competing work schedules as the basis for their breakup, many questioned whether it had anything in common with the rumors that Branagh had been disloyal. Thompson started dating actor Greg Wise the same year their separation was made public. They first met that year while cast alongside one another in Sense and Sensibility.
Kenneth and Helena Date From 1995 To 1999
Branagh started seeing Bonham Carter the same year he ended his relationship with Thompson. Before Bonham Carter announced their breakup in a message, they dated for 3 years. Carter later began dating Tim Burton for an extended period from 2001 to 2014. They had two kids at this time: a 15-year-old daughter named Nell and a 19-year-old son named Billy.
Emma Thompson, In A 2022 Interview
In her 2022 conversation with The New Yorker, Thompson referred to the fact that she was “absolutely, utterly ignorant” to the knowledge that Bonham Carter had connections with other women in production. After the breakup, Thompson admitted to the magazine that she only felt “half alive. Any idea that she was a loveable or deserving person was utterly gone, she claimed. Regarding her feelings for Branagh with Bonham Carter, the actor said in 2013 that all was “blood under the bridge.”
“It’s not worthwhile. I lack the necessary energy. Since forever ago, Helena and I have reconciled. She is an excellent woman, “she said.
She and Wise, from whom she claims she has learned a great deal, will soon commemorate their 20th wedding anniversary. They have two kids: an adopted son Tindyebwa Agaba Wise and a daughter Gaia, who was conceived via IVF while Thompson was 39.