She’s the weird and wonderful queen of acting, and for a while she was also Tim Burton’s muse,
having featured in more than 10 of his films. While we’ve seen Helena Bonham Carter portraying
all sorts of interesting characters, what we don’t see is what happens off screen, especially when it
comes to the complicated relationship with her ex, Burton. They were once Hollywood’s most eccentric
couple, but what played out was a messy split that left pieces of Helena’s heart strewn all over the
floor. From messy affairs, to a tragic accident that took the lives of several family members,
we have everything you need to know about Helena & Tim’s unconventional relationship.
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Helena Bonham Carter has graced our screens as all sorts of interesting characters.
You might know her as Belatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter, or The Queen of Hearts in
Alice Through The Looking Glass, but the actress’s career goes back over 20 years.
However, the woman you see now,
is a very far cry from the 19-year-old who made her film debut in A Room With A View,
and went on to be a poster girl for EM Forster, English roses and the corset ­industry.
She made her professional debut at 16, in a TV ­commercial. Three years later,
she was a film star. But the young actress never felt like she deserved any of it. Despite the
fact that she was now acting alongside film legends like Judi Dench and Maggie Smith,
she had no professional acting training, and she was waiting to be called out as a fraud.
"I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I thought, fuck, I can't do this. I felt I
was totally bluffing it. Now I'm much easier with it because I'm ­fundamentally happy."
As her career began to take off, the actress refused to move out of her parents’ home.
She never felt the need to go and do the grown-up thing and live on her own.
She loved her parents and had an incredibly close relationship with them.
However, when she turned 30, the time finally came for Helena to make the big move. She'd also had
plenty of boyfriends, ­including a relationship tabloid scandal with Kenneth Branagh .
Back in the 1990s, actor/director Kenneth was married to the English actress Emma Thompson.
Then he met Helena and it was goodbye, Emma and hello to divorce papers. Bonham Carter got a whole
lot of bad press and was labeled a homewrecker for getting involved with a married man. While
she and Kenneth never married, they were together for almost 5 years but never lived together.
"I remember I did think,
'Wouldn't it be nice if Mr Right moved in next door?'" The actress admitted.
Well, that’s exactly what happened when she met her Mr. Right,
although you might know him as Mr. Tim Burton.
During the filming of Planet Of The Apes in 2001,
the first time she worked with ­Burton, Helena barely spoke to him.
The only thing she remembers him saying to her is that he knew he wanted her as one of his apes,
and that he had once lived in Hampstead and it was the only place in the world he'd felt at home.
The one thing he should have mentioned is that he had a girlfriend, actress Lisa
Marie - who was also featured in the Planet Of The Apes film. And they were living together.
Some say the affair between Burton and Bonham Carter started even before the movie wrapped.
Whatever the facts may be, Burton quickly dumped Lisa in favor of the quirky Helena.
It’s safe to say that Lisa wasn’t thrilled about the split, because as soon as Tim had
moved out of their home, she auctioned off everything that he had left behind.
Burton wasn’t thrilled about that either.
Nevertheless, after the film was finished,
when Helena was 35, they started dating and Burton bought the house next door.
Actually, the two houses next door. Her dream of having Mr. Right living next door had come true.
Their unconventional relationship received many eyebrow raises from the outside world.
No one seemed to understand why Tim would go out of his way to buy TWO houses next door,
and not simply move in with Helena.
The two spaces had little design consistency. In fact, one house had Helena's aesthetic,
and the other had Tim's. She claimed that her house looked like something out of
Beatrix Potter while Tim's had Oompa Loompas, skeletons, and slime balls laying around.
"We just have two houses knocked together because mine was too small.
We see as much of each other as any couple, but our relationship is enhanced by knowing we
have our personal space to retreat to... Tim does snore, and that’s an element.” The actress shared.
Eventually, Burton and Bonham Carter made the move of linking
those adjacent homes via a walkway and it seemed like a win-win situation.
Having your partner right there when you need them, with the knowledge that
you could easily storm off to your own side of the house when you got into an argument.
As the years went by, the couple made countless films together and welcomed two sons together,
Billy Ray and Nell. ­They all seemed to live happily in their conjoined homes.
Once she got together with Burton, Bonham Carter's image was transformed. They were
often photographed together in black, their complexions equally pale, hair equally scruffy.
She'd be snapped pushing the kids up the hill looking as if she'd just stepped out of bed.
After giving birth, she was happy to have photographs released
showing parts of her body that most women would have been ashamed of.
However “unstylish” the tabloids made her seem, she still looked lovely. "I'm ­often criticised
for what I wear. That's my main label in the press now: disastrous dresser! … Sometimes it's really
offensive, but it's kind of affectionate now. We're like the 'bonkers couple'."
Sadly, tragedy struck Helena’s family in 2008 in a shocking incident. The actress was left
mourning four members of her family after they were killed in a horrific road accident.
Bonham Carter's relatives were on a safari holiday in South Africa when a minibus they
were travelling in spun out of control and flipped over after a tyre burst.
Five of the seven family members on board were thrown out of the minibus.
Her cousin, Fiona Bonham Carter, 51, escaped with a broken shoulder,
but unfortunately Fiona's son Marcus, aged 14, her mother Brenda, 74, stepfather Francis,
75, and sister-in-law Kay, who was 54, didn’t survive the crash.
Helena was overwhelmed with grief from the loss, and took time off from working to give
her time to come to terms with the accident that took the lives of so many members of her family.
Unfortunately, just a few years later, Helena suffered another loss. After some
13 years together, her relationship with Tim broke down and the pair went their own ways.
In 2014, Bonham Carter and Burton announced that they had "separated amicably" earlier that
year. Nearly ten months later, though, Carter chose to break her silence on the separation.
“I could write a thesis on what’s happened. It is all-absorbing when a relationship breaks down,
but I think we’re coming through it, and I think we’ll have something very precious still.
Our relationship was always somewhat special, and I think it’ll always remain special.”
While the actress insisted she wasn't able to reveal why she and Tim went their separate ways,
she did say: 'I didn't leave, put it that way'.
The actress further explained that just because a relationship came to an end,
shouldn’t mean that it wasn’t successful. She admitted that sometimes a couple just
isn’t meant to be together forever. However, she still considers their relationship to be a massive
gift because they gave each other wonderful memories, two children and a whole lot more.
Helena added that it has taken a while for her family to 'adjust' ; she said that things
were 'really very good now', after initially struggling with not having her two children,
Billy and Nell who are both in their teens, around the house all the time.
Detailing her experience, Helena revealed, “The cruelty of divorce is extraordinary.
But then you get to a point where you're like, Oh, I get this week off! Some parts are very
much to be recommended.” While the couple never married, after being together for 13 years,
it makes total sense for the split to feel more like a divorce than just a simple breakup.
While it was a tough adjustment for everyone, the actress was able to mend her heart and move on.
In fact, she describes how she met her new boyfriend to be a “happy accident”.
'I'm very happy with someone else.
It's been a bit of unexpected magic in my life.' the actress confessed.
Helena's current partner, Rye Dag Holmboe, aged 33,
and 22 years her junior, met at a wedding a couple of years ago.
While you might be shocked at their age gap, it’s not something that bothers her at all. In fact,
she describes him to be an old soul in a young body. What more could a woman ask for?
She explained that the wedding was totally random, and they both almost didn’t end up attending.
“It was one of those moments that was so chance and ended up determining so much.
A really happy accident, and it's an amazing thing.”
When it comes to moving on, Helena admitted she grew tired of 'grieving' her relationship
with Tim and knew she had to put it behind her. She now leads a 'happy' life with her
new boyfriend and it seems like things couldn’t be better for the actress.