Emma Thompson Forgives Helena Bonham Carter for Affair with Kenneth Branagh

Nearly 20 years after their split, Emma Thompson says she forgives Helena Bonham Carter for having an affair with her husband Kenneth Branagh.

"[It's] all blood under the bridge," Thompson told theU.K.'s SundayTimes. "You can't hold on to anything like that. I just think . . . pfft. It's pointless. I haven't got the energy for it. Helena and I made our peace years and years ago."

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In 1995, Thompson and Branagh split after six years of marriage, claiming at the time that it was due to their work demands keeping them apart. But Branagh was having an affair with Bonham Carter, and up-and-coming actress at the time, which reportedly began after they met on the set ofMary Shelley's Frankenstein in 1994. The two soon went public and dated until 1999.

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Thompson joked that she understands why Branagh was attracted to Bonham Carter. "Oh, we are [alike]," she told the Sunday Times. "Being slightly mad and a bit fashion-challenged. Perhaps that's why Ken loved us both. She's a wonderful woman, Helena."

Thompson — who has since co-starred in the Harry Potter films with Bonham Carter (Branagh appeared in the second film, which did not star either actress) — added that she used her heartbreak in many of her roles, including Love Actually, in which she discovers that her husband (Alan Rickman) might be cheating on her (see below). "I've had so much bloody practice 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," she said.

Thompson, 54, has been married to Greg Wise for 10 years and together they have a daughter Gaia, 13, and a son Tindyebwa Agaba, 26. Bonham Carter has been with director Tim Burton since 2001 and they have a son named Billy, 10 and daughter Nell, 5.