Emma Thompson's 'Love Actually' heartbreak scene drew from real-life infidelity

The iconic scene in "Love Actually" where Karen (Emma Thompson) discovers her husband's infidelity by finding a necklace not meant for her, and then must put on a brave face for her children, was deeply rooted in Thompson's own life.

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She had broken my heart, and I knew what it was to find a necklace that wasn't for her.

Fifteen years after the film's release, Thompson disclosed at a charity event that the emotional portrayal was drawn from her personal experience of heartbreak. She explained that her ex-husband, Kenneth Branagh, had deeply wounded her, and she understood the pain of finding a gift intended for another woman. While not an exact replica of events, she noted that the feeling resonated with her own experiences.

Thompson and Branagh, once dubbed "Ken & Em" and compared to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, met in 1987 and married in 1989. They starred in several films together, including "Henry V" and "Much Ado About Nothing." However, their marriage ended due to Branagh's affair with Helena Bonham Carter, which came to light after their divorce.

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I had, she said, a lot of practice in crying in a room and then coming out to show yourself happy, putting the pieces of your heart in a drawer.

In a 1995 interview with The Telegraph, Thompson spoke about her practice of crying in private and then emerging with a smile, metaphorically putting the pieces of her heart away. This ability to mask her pain, honed by her personal struggles, allowed her to deliver a performance that resonated with audiences and remains one of the film's most memorable moments.

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I fell in love with him the day I heard him sing on set and burst into tears because his voice sounded like my father's singing on The Magic Roundabout.