The Famous Men Helena Bonham Carter Has Dated

Actor Helena Bonham Carter does not exactly fit the mold of your typical Hollywood star. She is deliciously quirky and decidedly unpretentious, with a fashion sense that prioritizes neither the fashionable nor sensible but somehow works with her oddball vibe. Bonham Carter clearly walks to the beat of her own drum, but like so many of her peers, the star has a habit of dating within the entertainment business. That said, Bonham Carter strayed from the pattern for the first time in 2018 when she kickstarted a relationship with Rye Dag Holmboe, a psychoanalyst and art historian who is 20-some years her junior.

Bonham Carter began acting professionally as a teenager, and it did not take her long to make waves in her native Britain. She rose to worldwide prominence in the early 1990s, with films such as "Hamlet," "Howards End," and "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." What's more, Bonham Carter has since earned two Academy Award nominations for "The Wings of the Dove" and "The King's Speech" (in addition to a slew of Golden Globe, Emmy, and BAFTA nominations, along with one BAFTA win). The actor is also well-known for her work as Bellatrix Lestrange in the "Harry Potter" franchise, for her appearance as Princess Margaret in "The Crown" — Bonham Carter famously prepared for the role by seeking out a psychic — and for her many collaborations with filmmaker (and ex-partner) Tim Burton. Below we take a look at the famous men Helena Bonham Carter has dated, starting with Burton, her children's father.

Helena Bonham Carter has over 100 acting credits to her name, and her IMDb page is filled with unexpected, challenging projects with a solid mix of mainstream versus independent fare. "Harry Potter" films aside, Bonham Carter is perhaps best known for her work with filmmaker Tim Burton, who just so happens to be her former lover and who will forever be her baby daddy. The pair's many professional collaborations include "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "Alice in Wonderland," "Planet of the Apes," and "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." Some might even say that Bonham Carter has operated as a muse for Burton, though that role might be better assigned to her frequent co-star, Johnny Depp.

Bonham Carter first met Burton in 2000, during the making of "Planet of the Apes," the first of their eight collaborations. Burton was in a committed partnership with someone else at the time, and while it has been reported that the relationship turned romantic after filming, the exact start date is unclear. The couple remained together until 2014 and share two children, Billy Raymond and Nell. In line with their unconventional personalities and approaches to life, the couple never cohabitated. Instead, they chose to live next door to each other, with their cottage-style homes connected by a hallway (and a third connected home for the nanny and their children's play space). Although she and Burton never wed, Bonham Carter has repeatedly referred to their split as a "divorce."

Although she will forever be associated with Tim Burton in the public consciousness — even if not by a walkway — Helena Bonham Carter has a few other famous ex-boyfriends. For example, the star dated British actor Rufus Sewell for an indeterminate amount of time prior to starting things up with Burton. Bonham Carter is rather quiet about her personal life, but the relationship developed in 1999, sometime before Sewell's marriage to another woman that same year. There have also been rumors that she dated comedy legend Steve Martin when the two were filming "Novocaine" in 2000, but neither Bonham Carter nor Martin have confirmed or denied these rumors. They did, however, show up arm-in-arm on the red carpet around that time.

Next to Burton, Bonham Carter's most significant relationship has been with Sir Kenneth Branagh, the Irish-born Oscar winner (for writing "Belfast") known for films such as "Henry V" and "Hamlet," both of which he wrote and directed, in addition to appearing on screen. Bonham Carter and Branagh got off to a controversial start, as Branagh was married to another British legend, Emma Thompson, when their romance began on the set of "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" in 1994. Rumors of the affair surfaced after Thompson and Branagh split in 1995, though it was not immediately confirmed. This was one major celebrity breakup that hit fans hard and, years later, Thompson admitted she used the heartbreaking affair as a sad way to relate to her "Love Actually" character, Karen. Bonham Carter and Branagh made things public in 1995 and stayed together until 1999.