Emma Thompson says she was ‘utterly blind’ to Kenneth Branagh’s affairs during their marriage

Emma Thompson has opened up about the heartbreak she experienced after her then-husband, Kenneth Branagh, had an affair with Helena Bonham Carter.

The couple, once hailed as the British press’s “Golden Couple,” separated in 1995 following Branagh’s relationship with Bonham Carter, which began while they worked together on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Though Carter’s name has often been linked to the split, Thompson recently told The New Yorker that her ex-husband’s infidelity wasn’t limited to one person.

She confessed she felt “humiliated” and completely blindsided by what was happening around her.

She said, “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.

Thompson described the aftermath of their split as devastating, adding, “I was half alive. Any sense of being a lovable or worthy person had gone completely.”

In the years since, Thompson has found happiness with actor Greg Wise, whom she met shortly after her divorce.

The couple has been together for 27 years and married for 19.

Thompson credited Wise with helping her heal, saying he “picked up the pieces and put them back together.”

Reflecting on her second marriage, Thompson added, “I’ve learned more from my second marriage just by being married.”

“As my mother says, ‘the first twenty years are the hardest.'”

The couple share two children: daughter Gaia, 22, and son Tindyebwa, 34. Tindyebwa, a former child soldier from Rwanda, joined the family at age 16 after meeting Thompson and Wise in 2003.

Despite the heartbreak, Thompson has previously insisted there’s no lingering resentment toward Branagh or Bonham Carter.

Speaking to The Sunday Times in 2018, she said, “That is… all blood under the bridge.”

“You can’t hold on to anything like that.”

“Helena and I made our peace years and years ago.”

“She’s a wonderful woman.”

More recently, Thompson drew praise for her fearless performance in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, which saw her take on a nude scene as Nancy, a retired teacher exploring intimacy later in life.

She said in a chat with People, “Whilst I’ve never really accepted my own body… I have lived in it and experienced pleasure in it.”

“You do have to accept [your body] in order to experience anything inside them.”