After 20 years of marriage Dame Emma Thompson describes romantic love as a ‘myth’

She’s been happily married to her second husband Greg Wise for 20 years.

Despite their wedded bliss, however, Dame Emma Thompson has described romantic love as a ‘myth’ that can be quite ‘dangerous’.

The actress, 63, who has been in a relationship with actor Wise, 56, since they met on the set of Sense And Sensibility in 1995, said that people should think ‘sensibly’ about love and how to nurture it.

‘It’s philosophically helpful and uplifting to remember that romantic love is a myth and quite dangerous,’ she told the Radio Times.

‘We really do have to take it with a massive pinch of salt. To think sensibly about love and the way it can grow is essential.

Dame Emma Thompson (pictured right) has had her fair share of heartbreak in the past following her very public break-up with first husband, Sir Kenneth Branagh (left)

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‘Long-term relationships are hugely difficult and complicated. If anyone thinks that happy ever after has a place in our lives, forget it.’

Dame Emma stars in new rom-com What’s Love Got to Do With It?, co-starring Lily James and Shazad Latif, which explores arranged marriages.

The Oscar-winning actress has had her fair share of heartbreak in the past following her very public break-up with first husband, Sir Kenneth Branagh.

The pair wed in 1989 and were the British acting scene’s golden couple until Sir Kenneth had an affair with Helena Bonham Carter while directing her in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Dame Emma and Sir Kenneth, 62, divorced in 1995 and he continued to date Miss Bonham Carter until 1999.

Dame Emma Thompson with Hugh Grant in Sense and Sensibility

Greg Wise and Kate Winslet in the 1995 Jane Austen film adaptation Sense and Sensibility

Helena Bonham Carter with Kenneth Branagh, pictured in 1998

Dame Emma Thompson in the 2003 Christmas romantic comedy Love Actually

Dame Emma said she drew on her real-life heartbreak while playing her Love Actually character, who is betrayed by her husband played by Alan Rickman.

‘That scene where my character is standing by the bed crying is so well known because it’s something everyone’s been through,’ she said in an interview in 2018.

Dame Emma has also admitted she still struggles with the ‘pressure’ of awards ceremonies. ‘Both times I had to do the Oscars I got seriously ill. I found the pressure and glare of it too much,’ she said.

‘It’s astonishing – and then afterwards you want to lie down in a dark room. You think, “Please don’t ask me any questions or make me talk about myself”.’

Despite her wedded bliss, however, Dame Emma Thompson has described romantic love as a ‘myth’ that can be quite ‘dangerous’. Pictured with husband Greg Wise