Emma Thompson broke her 20-year long silence on the affair that broke up her six-year marriage to Kenneth Branagh. Emma Thompson said she forgave Helena Bonham-Carter years ago.

The affair between Kenneth Branagh and Helena Bonham-Carter started when they met on the set of the movie "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." Branagh was directing the film and starred in it. Helena Bonham-Carter played his love interest. Helena Bonham Carter's relationship with Branagh started in 1994 and lasted five years.

Two-time Oscar winner Emma Thompson, 54, recently said "Helena and I made our peace years and years ago."

Emma Thompson said she has forgiven Helena Bonham-Carter for the affair that ended her marriage to Kenneth Branagh and sent the actress into a deep depression. She said she used the depression for roles. She said "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."

Emma Thompson met Kenneth Branagh while shooting a film in 1987, two years later they got married.

Emma Thompson said the break-up was "all blood under the bridge. 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."

The actress sees similarities herself and Helena Bonham Carter, 47. She told the Sunday Times "Oh, we are [alike]." That wasn't lost on Branagh, 52, "being slightly mad and a bit fashion-challenged." She said "Perhaps that's why Ken loved us both. She's a wonderful woman, Helena."

She told the Sunday Times "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."

Since the breakup, Emma Thompson has co-starred with Helena Bonham Carter in the Harry Potter films. Kenneth Branagh was in the second Harry Potter movie, which featured neither Thompson nor Bonham-Carter.

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