‘Harry Potter‘ fans are in for some unexpected drama among their favorite characters. While the franchise fans are barely disappointed with what the movie characters do, it may not be the same in real life. Emma Thompson, who played Professor Sybill Trelawney in ‘Harry Potter‘, has opened up about the emotional turmoil she faced when her husband, Kenneth Branagh aka Gilderoy Lockhart, had an affair with Helena Bonham Carter aka Bellatrix Lestrange.
Thompson is an highly acclaimed actress with two Oscars and three Baftas to her name. She was married to fellow ‘Harry Potter’ actor Branagh for six years before parted ways because of his affair in 1995. The actress has now spoken up about her ordeals at the time as an actress as well as a wife.
Emma Thompson Claims Kenneth Branagh Had “Relationships With Other Women On Sets”
In a recent interview with the New Yorker, Emma Thompson revealed that she had some strong feelings of betrayal and humiliation when her husband cheated on her with a fellow ‘Harry Potter’ actress.
Asserting that she she was blind to Branagh’s relationships with other women on set, Thompson also claimed that Bonhart was not the only woman on set that Kenneth Branagh had an affair with.
She admitted she had felt “humiliated” by the affair. “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 said.
“I was half alive. Any sense of being a lovable or worthy person had gone completely,” she added.
Branagh’s affair with Bonham Carter, which reportedly began in 1994 during the filming of ‘Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein‘. A year later, Branagh and Thompson got divorced.
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“That Is… All Blood Under The Bridge”: Emma Thompson Has No Hard Feelings For Helena Bonham Carter
Despite the painful past, Thompson mentioned in a 2013 interview with the Telegraph that she and Bonham Carter had buried the hatchet “years and years ago.” She said there were heavy challenges of moving on after a heartbreak but felt that it is futile to hold onto such negative emotions.
“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,” she said.
Thompson spoke warmly about Bonham Carter, describing her as a “wonderful woman.” “That is… all blood under the bridge. You can’t hold on to anything like that. I just think… pfft. It’s pointless. I haven’t got the energy for it. Helena and I made our peace years and years ago… she’s a wonderful woman,” the actress said.
Following her divorce from Branagh, Thompson found love again and married Greg Wise in 2003. The couple met while filming ‘Sense and Sensibility‘ in 1995. Thompson also credits Wise with helping her overcome the depression that followed her divorce.
In an interview with the Observer, she expressed gratitude for Wise, stating that he “picked up the pieces and put them together again.”
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