Emma Thompson's Love Actually end scene is arguably one of the most iconic movie moments of all time. The heart-wrenching scene sees Karen (Thompson) discover that her husband, Harry (Alan Rickman), bought a necklace for another woman and gave her a Joni Mitchell CD for Christmas instead. She heads to her bedroom where she breaks down as Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" plays.
Watch The 'Knight Before Christmas' Trailer Below:
The scene is made even more gut-wrenching with the discovery that Thompson has actually lived this scene in her personal life.
At a fundraiser for the Tricycle Theatre in London, the actress told the audience that she'd gone through something similar with her now ex-husband, Kenneth Branagh, who had an affair with Helena Bonham Carter.
"That scene where my character is standing by the bed crying is so well known because it’s something everyone’s been through,” she said, according to The Telegraph. "I had my heart very badly broken by Ken. So I knew what it was like to find the necklace that wasn’t meant for me. Well, it wasn’t exactly that, but we’ve all been through it."
*Cries*
Thompson wed Branagh in 1989, and in 1994 Branagh reportedly began an affair with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein co-star Helena Bonham Carter. The couple announced their separation in 1995 and Branagh and Bonham Carter went on to date until 1999.
"I’ve had so much bloody practise 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," Thompson told The Telegraph.
"That is...all blood under the bridge," Thompson told The Sunday Times about Bonham Carter years after the affair. "You can’t hold on to anything like that. 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 three have obviously since moved on, having all worked together on the Harry Potter franchises together. Fans will recognise the actors as Professor Lockhart, Professor Trelawney, and Bellatrix Lestrange.
