Helena Bonham Carter was a factor in the breakup of Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh’s marriage.
Credit: Reuters
Apparently in between all the tea and crumpets, British actors were getting up to some pretty scandalous doings in the ’90s. Emma Thompson says that her six-year marriage to Kenneth Branagh ended because he had an affair with Helena Bonham Carter.
The married stars of 1993’s “Much Ado About Nothing” separated in 1995, citing work demands. In fact, Thompson reveals now, Branagh was having an affair with Helena Bonham Carter, with whom he had recently co-starred in “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.”
This is obviously heartbreaking news for those of us who idolize both ladies and would prefer to imagine them as BFFs. But Thompson says she doesn’t hold a grudge against Bonham Carter, her co-star in 1992’s “Howard’s End” — it’s “all blood under the bridge. You can’t hold on to anything like that,” she told the Sunday Times.
“It’s pointless. I haven’t got the energy for it. Helena and I made our peace years and years ago,” she added.
She pointed out that she and Bonham Carter are both “slightly mad” and share an unorthodox fashion sense.
“Perhaps that’s why Ken loved us both. She’s a wonderful woman, Helena.”
Good lord, they’re civilized over there across the pond. They even have affairs politely.
