Emma Thompson was 'blind' to ex-husband Kenneth Branagh's affair with fellow Harry Potter star
Emma Thompson said she was left 'humiliated' after her former husband's affair with a fellow famous actress came to light.
The beloved British star, 67, previously opened up about the heartbreak she felt after discovering that Kenneth Branagh was romantically involved with Helena Bonham Carter during their marriage.
She recalled how she felt 'half alive' after finding out the pair had struck up an illicit relationship in the years before she shared the Harry Potter set with the eccentric actress.
When reflecting on this difficult period of her life, Thompson explained that she was 'utterly, utterly blind' to Branagh's betrayal before she eventually rumbled him.
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She met the Belfast-born actor and filmmaker while shooting the BBC series Fortunes of War in 1987 and was charmed by the 65-year-old being so 'incandescent with ambition and performance energy'.
Speaking to The New Yorker about their relationship in November 2022, the Nanny McPhee star admitted that they also 'clashed claws' a lot too, while comparing them both to 'two mating lobsters'.
Thompson and Branagh got hitched in August 1989, before going on to share the screen together in a string of films including Dead Again, Henry V, and Much Ado About Nothing.
But six years after tying the knot, the couple called time on their marriage - and they originally blamed their split on their hectic work schedules.
A statement released at the time explained they had 'drifted apart' due to 'spending long periods of time away from each other', however, Thompson later admitted it was actually down to Branagh's deceit.
She discovered that he had an affair with Bonham Carter, 60, who was starring in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It is believed to have began while he was directing the 1994 Oscar-nominated film.
Opening up about her heartbreak, Thompson told The New Yorker: "I was utterly, utterly blind to the fact that he had relationships with other women on set.
"What I learned was how easy it is to be blinded by your own desire to deceive yourself. I was half alive. Any sense of being a lovable or worthy person had gone completely."
She subsequently met actor Greg Wise, 60, on the set of the 1995 film Sense & Sensibility, who helped her 'pick up the pieces and put them back together'.
Thompson got a second chance at wedded bliss with Wise and got married to him in 2003, after welcoming their daughter Gaia in 1999 and later adopting their son Tindyebwa 'Tindy' Agaba from Rwanda.
Meanwhile, Branagh and Bonham Carter went on to have a five-year relationship before parting ways in 1999. They said it was a 'mutual' decision and that 'no one else was involved' in the demise of their romance.
'I had my heart very badly broken by Ken'
Thompson also managed to find a silver lining in the affair after overcoming her heartbreak - it helped her prepare for her role in the legendary 2003 romcom, Love Actually.
In the film, her character Karen discovered that her husband, played by the late Alan Rickman, is having an affair with his secretary.
"That scene where my character is standing by the bed crying is so well known because it’s something everyone’s been through," Thompson said during 2018 appearance.
"I had my heart very badly broken by Ken. So, I knew what it was like to find the necklace that wasn’t meant for me. Well, it wasn’t exactly that, but we’ve all been through it."
She also previously told The Telegraph: "I’ve had so much bloody practice at crying in a bedroom, then having to go out and be cheerful, gathering up the pieces of my heart and putting them in a drawer."
Thompson also revealed that she had forgiven Bonham Carter - who she later starred in the Harry Potter franchise alongside - for her affair with Branagh.
In 2013, she told The Telegraph she saw a lot of similarities between them both, adding: "Being slightly mad and a bit fashion-challenged. Perhaps that’s why Ken loved us both…Helena and I made our peace years and years ago."
She also described it as 'blood under the bridge' and told the Sunday Times the same year that harbouring resentment is 'pointless', saying: "I haven't got the energy for it."
Bonham Carter borrowed this phrasing during an October 2020 interview with The Guardian, where she said: "You know, Ken avoided directing me once we were together because it can be complicated and I think he didn’t want - anyway, that’s all blood under the bridge."
What has Branagh said?
Following her split from Branagh, she went on to embark on a decade-long relationship with iconic filmmaker Tim Burton, 67, who she shares children Billy and Nell with. They then split in 2014.
Branagh wedded art director Lindsay Brunnock in 2003 - and has never directly addressed this entanglement.
However, during a 1999 interview with Bonham Carter, he said he had 'never really felt victimised' by the media coverage of his love life, telling the Calgary Sun: "I've suffered my share of slings and arrows, but it goes with the territory of being in the public eye. Experience helps you deal with wanted and unwanted attention.
"Helena and I both have very politically incorrect senses of humour. I think that's what drew us together in the first place."
Topics: Sex and Relationships, Harry Potter, Celebrity News
Olivia Burke