Did Emma Thompson’s daughter, Gaia Wise, subtly shade her mom’s ex-husband, Kenneth Branagh?
Gaia, 24, shared a meme via her Instagram Story on Monday, July 29, that showed Thompson, 65, next to a photo of Branagh, 63, from the 1993 movie adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing. (Thompson played Beatrice and Branagh played Benedick in the film, adapted from William Shakespeare’s comedy of the same name.)
“She’s everything. He’s just Ken,” the screenshot of an X post read, referencing the 2023 Barbie movie.
Eagle-eyed fans clutched their pearls, speculating that Gaia was dredging up Branagh’s past alleged affair with Helena Bonham Carter.
not gaia wise reposting this 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/Nyl6dej7uA
— 🍒 (@NlCOLEKIDWOMAN) July 27, 2023
Branagh and Thompson met in 1987 while filming the BBC television series Fortunes of War. The former couple got married in 1989 and announced their separation in September 1995.
“Our work has inevitably led to our spending long periods of time away from each other, and as a result, we have drifted apart,” the initial statement about their split read. However, rumors started to swirl that Branagh had an alleged affair with onetime costar Carter, 58, which actually ended his marriage to Thompson.
Thompson seemingly confirmed the alleged affair between Branagh and Carter years later during an interview with U.K.’s Sunday Times. (Branagh hasn’t spoken publicly about the alleged affair.)
“That is … all blood under the bridge. You can’t hold on to anything like that,” Thompson said in 2013. “It’s pointless. I haven’t got the energy for it … Helena and I made our peace years and years ago … she’s a wonderful woman.”
Thompson revisited Branagh’s alleged affair once again in November 2022, during an interview with the New Yorker. (Branagh’s extramarital relationship with Carter apparently started when he directed her in 1994’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.)
“I was utterly, utterly blind to the fact that he had relationships with other women on set,” the actress shared. “What I learned was how easy it is to be blinded by your own desire to deceive yourself.”
Thompson continued: “I was half alive. Any sense of being a lovable or worthy person had gone completely.”
However, actor and producer Greg Wise came along, “picked up the pieces and put them back together,” she continued. Thompson married Greg, 65, in 2003. They share daughter Gaia and son Tindyebwa Agaba Wise, whom they adopted from Rwanda.
“I’ve learned more from my second marriage just by being married,” Thompson told the New Yorker in the same interview. “As my mother says, ‘he first twenty years are the hardest.’”
