The Harry Potter franchise can take credit for turning our nation and the rest of the world into lovers of magic.
But even the biggest fan of the films may be unaware of the love triangle drama that unfolded behind the scenes. Starring lots of huge actors who went on to extraordinary careers - such as Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Thompson, and even Kenneth Branagh - you'd find it difficult to come across someone who hasn't seen at least one. However, three of the names mentioned above actually found themselves involved in a love triangle in the real world.
A little awkward, no?
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As many will already be aware, Emma Thompson - who played Professor Trelawny - and Kenneth Branagh - who played Gilderoy Lockhart. The pair married in 1989, two years after they first met. The two were known as the golden couple of British cinema through the early 90s, fondly nicknamed "Ken and Em'".
However, things took a turn for the worst for the couple during the filming of the iconic 1994 movie Frankenstein. Ken starred alongside Helena Bonham Carter - Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter - and the pair went on to have a huge affair.
The film includes Victor (Branagh) and Elizabeth's (Carter) love story, with the romance spilling into a real-life relationship that lasted until 1999. The affair left Thompson devastated, with the actress finding out before divorcing Branagh in 1995.
Famously, Emma channelled her heartache into her role in the 2003 film Love Actually - where she starred alongside fellow Harry Potter actor Alan Rickman. In the Christmas favourite, Thompson's character suspects her husband is being unfaithful, telling the Sunday Times after filming: “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."
The actress also spoke about how so many people resonate with heartbreaking movie scenes during an interview with BBC Radio 1.
“I think it’s just because everybody’s been through something like it,” Thompson said about the famous crying scene from the 2003 movie. "I think what really gets to them though is that she has to pull herself together. It’s not that she’s upset … it’s the fact she has to pull herself together and that’s Richard’s (Curtis) writing. You’ve got to carry on and just be normal, especially for your children.”
However, there is no longstanding drama between Emma Thompson and 'other woman' Helena Bonham Carter, with the Nanny McPhee star admitting she has since "made her peace" with her fellow actress, describing her as a "wonderful woman".
“You can’t hold on to anything like that,” Thompson said to The Sunday Times. “It’s pointless. I haven’t got the energy for it.”
The 63-year-old has even acknowledged how similar she is to Carter: “Oh we are. Being slightly mad and a bit fashion-challenged. Perhaps that’s why Ken loved us both. She’s a wonderful woman, Helena.”
All three members of the love triangle have crossed paths on the Harry Potter set, with Branagh debuting in the franchise in the second installment - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). Emma Thompson first appeared in the 2004 film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, with Carter first cast in Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix (2007).
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