After a Major Heartbreak, Emma Thompson Found the Formula of Eternal Love

Emma Thompson is an award-winning actress who has given us moving performances that have brought tears of joy or sadness to our eyes. Her love life has also been full of ups and downs. A public scandal forced her to reconsider what love is, and thanks to that fresh perspective, she finally found her soulmate — Greg Wise, her husband of 20 years.

In one of the greatest Christmas comedies of all time, Love Actually, Emma’s character feels overwhelmed after discovering that her husband, Harry, played by Alan Rickman, is being unfaithful to her with his secretary, Mia.

Thompson’s powerful performance turned the scene into something memorable, and after several years, she finally revealed that her performance was very real because she had experienced the same thing with her first husband, Kenneth Branagh.

In an interview, the actress explained that although she was working with her husband on a movie at the time of the revelation, she “was utterly, utterly blind to the fact that he had relationships with other women on set.” She said, “What I learned was how easy it is to be blinded by your own desire to deceive yourself.”

After it was publicly revealed that her husband was cheating on her with the actress Helena Bonham Carter, Emma went into depression: “I was half alive. Any sense of being a lovable or worthy person had gone completely.”

What was happening in the movie was like a copy of what she felt in real life. “That scene where my character is standing by the bed crying is so familiar because it’s something everyone has been through,” she said.

“Ken really broke my heart. So I knew what it was like to find a necklace that wasn’t for me. Well, it wasn’t exactly like that, but we’ve all been there.”