Dame Emma Thompson was ‘utterly blind’ to her then-husband’s affair (Picture: Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock)
Dame Emma Thompson admits she was ‘blind’ to her ex husband Sir Kenneth Branagh’s reported affair with Helena Bonham Carter.
The 56-year-old actress’ six-year marriage to the actor ended in 1995 as a result of the apparent unfaithfulness, which came after Sir Kenneth and Helena appeared together in 1994’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Emma, who was filming Sense and Sensibility at the time, has said she was ‘humiliated’ by the affair.
She 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.’
She added: ‘I was half alive. Any sense of being a lovable or worthy person had gone completely.’
Her Sense and Sensibility co-star and now-husband Greg Wise – whom she married 27 years ago – was one of the people who helped ‘pick up the pieces and put them back together’.
She had been married to Sir Kenneth Branagh for six years when they split (Picture: Momodu Mansaray/Getty Images)
Dame Emma has since made her peace with Helena Bonham Carter (Picture: Ian West/PA)
The loved up couple – who have daughter Gaia, 22, and son Tindyebwa, 16, together – tied the knot in 2003, which was the same year Sir Kenneth married art director Lindsay Brunnock.
She said: ‘I’ve learned more from my second marriage just by being married. As my mother says, “The first twenty years are the hardest.” ‘
Emma had already appeared with Helena in 1992’s Howard’s End, while they also went on to both appear in the Harry Potter franchise from 2007.
Back in 2013, Emma addressed the affair for the first time and admitted she and Helena are similar, both ‘being slightly mad and a bit fashioned-challenged’, suggesting that could’ve been why her then-husband ‘loved us both’.
She also she had ‘made her peace’ with Helena, insisting ‘you can’t hold on to anything like that’ as she added: ‘It’s pointless. I haven’t got the energy for it. Helena and I made our peace years and years ago.’
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The Harry Potter star’s now-husband Greg Wise helped ‘pick up the pieces’.
