Emma Thompson: 5 Things You Didn’t Know About the Legendary British Actress

Emma was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire last year. “I’ve become much more commanding ever since,” says Emma, who wore sneakers to the ceremony. “I’ve also had every seat I sit on made slightly taller.”

“I’m always in a corset being earnest and kind,” says the period-piece veteran, who was delighted by a change-of-pace role in Mindy Kaling’s contemporary showbiz comedy. “Luckily, in Late Night, I was in a blazer with slicked-back hair being incredibly mean most of the time.”

Struggling with depression grew dire during her 1995 divorce from Kenneth Branagh. She threw herself into doing Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, which brought her an Oscar — and second husband Greg Wise, an actor she met on set. “Work saved me and Greg saved me,” she says. “He picked up the pieces and put them together again.”

The couple have a daughter, Gaia, 19, and a son, Tindy, 31, a former Rwandan orphan. “He only needed help and support from a loving group of people to flourish into an extraordinary, empathic and talented family member,” Emma says.

“The denial of aging is unhealthy,” the Howards End star, who celebrated the milestone birthday in April. “It’s always been bollocks!”

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