Though a married couple swears to stay together until death, more often than not they don’t. While there are many reasons why marriages end in divorce, one reason is often infidelity.
Marriage has a higher chance of surviving an affair if the person who was unfaithful is full of regret and their partner forgives them. If they want to make things work, both people in the relationship need to be fully committed.
Infidelity is often a sign of deeper problems in a marriage, and many times these marriages do not recover. When a person is unfaithful in their marriage, it may be because they no longer feel committed, but instead of getting a divorce, they try to cover up their relationship. Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson experienced this.
Thompson met her first husband, Kenneth Branagh, while shooting the 1987 series “Fortunes of War.” His voice was the first thing that caught her attention and later led to love. She said, “I burst into tears because he sounded exactly like my father singing on ‘The Magic Roundabout. He was incandescent with ambition and performance energy.”
Thompson never felt comfortable with their nickname, “The Golden Couple,” even though it was given to them at the height of their relationship. She stated, “I don’t think we wanted to be some power couple, and we certainly didn’t feel like it.”
In 1994, while filming “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,” Branagh met Helena Bonham Carter, who played his love interest in the movie. The couple fell in love on-screen and continued their relationship off-screen, but eventually the affair led to divorce.
At first, Thompson was unaware of the affair. She said, “I was utterly, utterly blind to the fact that he had relationships with other women on set.” She continued, “What I learned was how easy it is to be blinded by your own desire to deceive yourself.”
Thomas said that, after her marriage ended, she stopped feeling like “a lovable or worthy person.”
Thankfully, love found her again. After meeting Greg Wise on the set of “Sense and Sensibility,” they got married 19 years ago and are still going strong. Thompson said, “I’ve learned more from my second marriage just by being married.” She continued, “As my mother says, ‘The first 20 years are the hardest.’”
In the video below, Thompson candidly discusses topics such as dancing, acting and her body image.
