Emma Thompson revealed that she was “utterly blind” to her ex-husband Kenneth Branagh’s affairs with actresses like Helena Bonham Carter.
“I was utterly, utterly blind to the fact that he had relationships with other women on set,” she told The New Yorker. “What I learned was how easy it is to be blinded by your own desire to deceive yourself.”
Thompson and Branagh first met on the set of the series Fortunes of War, and they were married from 1989 to 1995. In 1994, Branagh began a relationship with Bonham Carter while they filmed the Frankenstein movie together.
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To make matters even messier, Bonham Carter and Thompson had previously worked together in 1992 on their film, Howards End.
Branagh’s relationships with other women and the end of their marriage understandably took a huge toll on Thompson’s mental health after the fact.
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“I was half alive,” the Cruella actress recalled. “Any sense of being a lovable or worthy person had gone completely.”
Thankfully, Thompson got a second chance at love when she met her Sense and Sensibility co-star, Greg Wise. The actors have been married since 2003, and they share two children. According to Thompson, Wise “picked up the pieces and put them back together” after her challenging breakup.
Thompson reflected, “I’ve learned more from my second marriage just by being married. As my mother says, ‘The first twenty years are the hardest.'”
Their romantic connection wasn’t at first sight, though; Wise actually pursued a different star of Sense and Sensibility before Thompson. He took Kate Winslet on a date to Glastonbury Festival and… it didn’t go great.
The Titanic actress quickly realized that Wise and Thompson would be a better match. “She pointed out that we were right for each other and told me that Emma’s marriage was over,” Wise shared back in 2014. “It was all meant to be.”
