10+ Facts About Helena Bonham Carter — a Woman Who Managed to Not Break Under the Pressure of Hollywood’s Standards

In a world where women have always aspired to look a certain way, that is in accordance with Hollywood beauty standards, Helena has always ignored the rules and was solely guided by her own taste. Many people only know Helena Bonham Carter as the actress who constantly plays the roles of strange women. But there are many moments in her biography that are even more admirable than her roles in films. Once, for example, Helena’s merits were noted by the British Queen, Elizabeth II.

We at Bright Side really love Helena and her characters. And after reading this article, maybe, you’ll like her a little bit more too.

Family and childhood

Helena’s great-grandmother and great-grandfather — Countess Margot Tennant and Lord Henry Asquith

• The Bonham Carter family are the descendants of the famous British politician, John Bonham-Carter. Helena’s grandmother was the daughter of the British Prime Minister. She was a close friend of Winston Churchill and also served as President of the Women’s Liberal Federation in an era when seeing women in politics only caused surprise and mockery. She married Maurice Bonham Carter, her father’s Principal Private Secretary. So this way, 2 noble British families, the Asquiths and the Bonham Carters, united.

• Helena had dreamed of becoming an actress since childhood. When she was 13, she won a national writing contest and spent the money she won on having her photos taken for her acting portfolio.

On the left is Helena’s grandmother, Lady Violet, on the right — Helena herself.

• Helena’s mother is a psychotherapist. She chose this occupation after a nervous breakdown that happened to her when her daughter was 5 years old. Now, she makes a living by reading scripts for films in which Helena will star, and expressing her opinion from a professional point of view.

• Helena isn’t the only child in the family. She has 2 brothers, one of whom holds a high position in a UK-based fund management company.

Helena and her mother at the Golden Globe Awards

• Helena wanted to go to King’s College in Cambridge, but she wasn’t accepted. Representatives of the college believed that she might just quit her studies at any time to continue her acting career.

• The young actress studied at the all-girls South Hampstead High School. It’s funny that the last names of many of her current friends also begin with the letter B, because when she was at school, classes were arranged alphabetically. By the way, much later, in 2015, the former graduate opened a new 7-story building for her school.

Helena is 26 years old in this photo.

From her first roles to more mature ones.

• Helena took the first steps in her acting career wearing corsets and dresses. At first, she was only invited to play the roles of classic young ladies from the 20th century — just watch the films Lady Jane or A Room with a View where the young Bonham Carter doesn’t in the least resemble Bellatrix Lestrange or Sweeney Todd’s accomplice.

• The first role that dramatically changed her career was the character of Marla in Fight Club. The actress got so connected with her character that she asked the makeup artist to apply her makeup with her left hand. She believed that Marla should be negligent in everything and that she couldn’t even neatly put on her makeup.

• However, Helena treats other roles just as responsibly. When she was offered to play the role of Princess Margaret in the TV series The Crown, the actress even turned to a psychic to get permission from the Queen’s deceased sister. It’s not clear whether this gave her a confidence boost or if it was the fact that Helena once met the Princess in person (the actress’s uncle was close to Margaret), but she transformed into her brilliantly.

• Helena Bonham Carter was awarded the Order of the British Empire for her role of the Duchess Elizabeth, the mother of Queen Elizabeth II, in the movie The King’s Speech. The award was presented to the actress personally by the Queen.

Personal life

Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton

• The most unusual Hollywood couple, Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter, have never been officially married. But this didn’t prevent them from living together for 13 years, raising 2 children, and even after they split up, they managed to remain good friends. They met on the set of the movie Planet of the Apes.
  

• Recently, in an interview, the actress said that after breaking up with her former lover, she was finally happy with someone else. “You break up, you grieve, you get bored of grieving, and then you finally move on. The mark of a successful relationship shouldn’t be whether you’re there forever after. Sometimes, you’re not meant to be forever together. But that was a gift, a massive gift,” — Helena confessed. Her new chosen one is the writer Rye Dag Holmboe.

The current lover of the actress, Rye Dag Holmboe

• Tim and Helena lived in different houses. The actress explains it this way, “I had a really nice house, and when I met him, he couldn’t fit in it because there wasn’t enough room. So, Tim bought the house next door.” In addition, both ex-partners have extraordinary personalities, and they sometimes needed a break from each other. After the break-up, the director left both houses to Helena.

• In 2006, Helena created her own brand of lingerie, The Pantaloonies. The profits from the sales go to the United Nations Children’s Fund.

Helena Bonham Carter’s rules of life

• “You just have to do what suits you, and it doesn’t matter if you don’t look like everybody else. Be you. That’s our gift and we’ve got to celebrate that.”
• “Wear what you feel comfortable with. People say nasty things about what I wear on the street. I’m always on the worst dressed lists, but you just have to dress for yourself and ­nobody else.”

• “Everybody has an inferiority complex, but when you get older, it doesn’t really matter. When I was young I had so many inferiority complexes, for example, because I didn’t go to university. Then it gets tiring. And you do get bored of it.”
• “My knees are really ancient, I’ve always had terrible eyes and a terrible back. My arms and tummy are quite good... You know, it’s all down to the lighting. Sometimes, you can look marvelous, and sometimes, you look terrible. But you don’t have to look at yourself.”

• “People say, ‘You’re still breastfeeding, that’s so generous’. Generous? No! It gives me boobs and it takes my thighs away! It’s sort of like natural liposuction. I’d carry on breastfeeding for the rest of my life if I could.”
• “Famous people come up to me, but I don’t know who they are because my sight is so bad. It always happens at the pool of the hotel when I leave my glasses in my room.”

• “I’ve never had white teeth. To be honest, I’ve never been told to do any of those horrible things, like get your teeth whitened or your nose straightened.”
• “I get fed up with the fact that everyone around me has this impression of me as being frail and petite. I find it very patronizing. I’m quite beefy and strong. I was a gymnast in school and I have lots of muscles.”

The author of this article is in awe of the role of Bellatrix Lestrange. What’s your favorite movie with Helena Bonham Carter?