Dame Emma Thompson has said she felt “half alive” after finding out about ex-husband Sir Kenneth Branagh’s affair.
The Love Actually star was married to fellow actor Kenneth from 1989 to 1995, with their marriage ending after his affair with Helena Bonham Carter, who he later went on to date for five years.
In a new interview with New Yorker magazine, Emma said she was “utterly blind” to her ex’s infidelity, leading her to feel unlovable.
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.
“I was half alive. Any sense of being a lovable or worthy person had gone completely.”
Emma admitted she was “embarrassed” by the “press version” of their marriage.
She said: “We didn’t present as glamorous in any way. I don’t think we wanted to be some power couple, and we certainly didn’t feel like it. We were lampooned and ridiculed, too – fair enough if you’re famous and overpaid – but it’s no fun.”
After the end of her first marriage, Emma met Greg Wise, who she credited with “picking up the pieces and put them back together”.
The couple have now been married for 19 years and together for 27 years, with Emma admitting she has “learned more” from her second marriage.
Emma previously said she had “made her peace” with Helena over her and Kenneth’s affair, describing her as a “wonderful woman” in a 2013 interview with the Sunday Times.
“You can’t hold on to anything like that,” Emma said. “It’s pointless. I haven’t got the energy for it. Helena and I made our peace years and years ago.”

I am a huge fan of Emma Thompson and was moved by her performance in the film, “Love Actually,” in which she plays the scorned wife of the character played by the late actor Alan Rickman. It took s great deal of courage for her to explore a subject so closely aligned with her own life experience and perhaps freeing or cathartic. As someone with a similar life experience, I appreciate her honesty and candor in interviews because it helps to know we are not alone and that time does heal the wound of infidelity in relationships. Thompson has such a wonderful bawdy sense of humor, which I thorougly appreciate, because it completely deflates all pretention. Thanks for sharing her redemptive story of her second marriage that far surpasses the first marriage. Good news indeed.