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- Emma Thompson is a British actress who has won an Oscar for both acting (Best Actress for 1992’s Howard’s End) and writing (Best Adapted Screenplay for 1995’s Sense & Sensibility)
- The star was married to Hollywood actor/director Kenneth Branaugh from 1989 to 1995, and recently claimed she was ‘blind’ to his affairs
- In 2003, Emma walked down the aisle with her Sense and Sensibility co-star Greg Wise
Emma Thompson has been hard at work on her latest project: a musical version of Nanny McPhee, which is scheduled to open in the West End in 2023. The British talent, who was born on April 15, 1959, penned and starred in the two film versions, 2005’s Nanny McPhee and its 2010 sequel Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang. The films were based on the Nurse Matilda book series by Christianna Brand.
The stressful endeavor comes after Emma has become a legend in the world of Hollywood. Often called one of the best actresses of her generation, she has garnered several coveted trophies in her four-decade career, received various accolades throughout her career spanning four decades, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two Golden Globes, a British Academy Television Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.
In her personal life, Emma has achieved as much success, with two marriages under her belt and two children to rear. Keep reading for more information on the pair of men who walked down the aisle with Emma, below.
Kenneth Branagh
In 1989, when Emma married Kenneth Branaugh, the British talent, born on Dec. 10, 1960, was nominated for Oscars as both actor and director for his film version of Henry V. The pair had met only a few years before working on Fortunes of War. “He was incandescent with ambition and performance energy,” Emma said to The New Yorker in November 2022. “Like two mating lobsters, we clashed claws.”
In the same interview, Emma also claimed she was “utterly blind” to the extramarital affairs going on between Kenneth and other women. “I was utterly, utterly blind to the fact that he had relationships with other women on set,” the Cruella star said. “What I learned was how easy it is to be blinded by your own desire to deceive yourself.”
In particular, Emma referenced the affair between her husband and actress Helena Bonham Carter, whom Kenneth starred alongside and directed in 1994’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. After she foudn out about the infidelity, she broke off the marriage. “I was half alive. Any sense of being a lovable or worthy person had gone completely,” Emma explained.
Although its unclear where Emma and Kenneth’s relationship stands today, the pair did star in the Harry Potter series together, with Emma as Professor Sybill Trelawney and Kenneth playing Professor Gilderoy Lockhart. As for her relationship with Helena, Emma told the Sunday Times in 2013 that the pair made their peace “years and years ago.”
Greg Wise
Shortly after she split with Kenneth, Emma met costar Greg Wise on the set of Sense & Sensibility. The couple went on to marry in 2003 and have been together ever since. “I’ve learned more from my second marriage just by being married,” she told The New Yorker. “As my mother says, ‘the first twenty years are the hardest.’”
Emma and Greg have welcomed two children together, daughter Gaia Wise, 23, and son Tindyebwa Agaba Wise, a Rwandan refugee whom they adopted.