She previously described her split from her long-term partner Tim Burton as ‘transformative’ and ‘cruel’.
But after ‘mourning’ the end of her relationship with the father of her two children, Helena Bonham Carter began looking for love with art historian Rye Dag Holmboe, a man 21 years her junior, after a ‘chance’ meeting at a mutual friend’s wedding.
The actress, 60, has been in a relationship with her ‘old soul’ lover, 38, since 2018, but despite the romance going from strength to strength, she has kept her promise never to marry.
Helena and Rye looked the picture of domestic bliss as they were pictured enjoying a romantic stroll in Hampstead, north London, earlier this week.
Although they seemed happier than ever, Sweeney Todd star Helena has explained that she will never tie the knot because she can’t make an ‘unhealthy’ promise to be with someone forever.
Speaking about her relationship with Rye in December, Helena confessed: “I mean, we’re not meant to last forever.
“And I’ve never really been married, because I can’t say that [words]”I honestly can’t make that promise, because I just don’t think it’s healthy.”
A look inside Helena Bonham Carter’s ‘happy accident’ toyboy romance with Rye Dag Holmboe after the pair looked the picture of domestic bliss when they were pictured enjoying a romantic stroll in Hampstead, North London, earlier this week
The actress previously described her split from her long-term partner Tim Burton as ‘transformative’ and ‘cruel’ (pictured with Tim in 2010)
The loving couple looked at each other for the first time at a wedding where neither of them were present.
She told The Guardian of their meeting: ‘A completely random thing, which we both almost didn’t go to, so it was one of those moments that was so coincidental and ended up defining so much.
“A very happy accident, and it’s an amazing thing. “I can’t say much about Rye because he’s a psychoanalyst, so he needs his anonymity.”
The couple made their romance public the following year, five years after she split from her long-term partner, director Tim, 68.
The actress had admitted it was time to find love again when she realized she was ‘bored’ of grieving her past relationship.
She told Harper’s Bazaar: ‘You break up, you grieve, you get bored of grieving. And then you finally move on.’
Speaking of Rye, she added: “I’m very happy with someone else. It was a little bit of unexpected magic in my life.”
About the couple’s 22-year age difference, the actress previously said in an interview with The Times: ‘Everyone ages at a different pace. My boyfriend is incredibly mature. He’s an old soul in a young body, what more could I ask for?
‘People are a bit afraid of older women, but not him. Women can be very powerful when they are older.”
She added: “There are people I’ve been involved with who aren’t necessarily their age, in terms of maturity, whereas [Rye] is timeless.’
The actress divorced her long-term partner, director Tim, in 2014. The couple have two children, Billy, 22, and Nell, 18.
But after ‘mourning’ the end of her relationship with the father of her two children, Helena began looking for love with Rye, a man 21 years her junior, after a ‘chance’ meeting at a mutual friend’s wedding.
Although they seem happier than ever, Sweeney Todd star Helena has explained that she will never tie the knot because she can’t make an ‘unhealthy’ promise to be with someone forever.
Helena and Tim were one of Hollywood’s biggest power couples, working together on a string of Burton films including Big Fish, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Alice in Wonderland and Dark Shadows.
Throughout their relationship, the couple famously had separate but adjoining homes in north London, connected by a corridor – an arrangement that raised eyebrows but which she said worked perfectly for them.
“The houses are joined together,” Helena explained. “He always comes to visit, which is really touching. He always comes by. We have a passage.
‘Journalists think there is an underground tunnel, Gothic. It’s actually quite above the ground, lots of light.’
However, she admitted that they only shared a bed ‘sometimes’ due to ‘a snoring problem’: ‘I talk, he snores. The other thing is that he suffers from insomnia, so he has to watch television to fall asleep. I need silence.’
The couple met on the set of 2001’s Planet of the Apes, which Tim directed. “You were the first person I thought of who played a chimpanzee,” he told her at the time.
Once she got together with Tim, her public image changed and she became increasingly known for her quirky dress sense.
“I feel like I have a reputation to uphold,” Helena once said about her bizarre outfits. “I now have the responsibility of dressing poorly, so it’s a bit liberating.”
However, working with her partner took its toll. “It’s not without pressure working with Tim,” she said in 2010 after their work on the first Alice in Wonderland film, which Tim also directed.
‘It worked for Alice. Sweeney was very stressful and very taxing on our relationship. He is a partner in our private lives, but when he directs, he is the boss. And maybe I’m confusing that.’
Helena and Tim became one of Hollywood’s biggest power couples before their split in 2014
A spokesperson for the couple said at the time of their split: ‘Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter split amicably earlier this year and remain friends and co-parent their children.’
However, there were signs that their relationship was in trouble the year before, when Tim was pictured embracing a mystery blonde, believed to be one of his assistants, near his home in Hampstead, north London.
The couple declined to comment at the time.
Helena credited her close circle of friends with helping her navigate her separation, which she colloquially calls a “divorce” from Tim.
“I was incredibly grateful for my friendships,” she said on the channel Fashion neurosis with Bella Freud podcast.
“I think maybe my appreciation for them has grown because they survived and supported me through this huge change.”
‘That also applies to my children, because when you go through a divorce – well, I did that anyway – you rely on the other people around you to help carry the family.
‘It felt like I almost had to piggyback on other people’s families too.’
She added: “When I felt like mine was falling apart, and divorce was real – in a family as close as ours – it was transformative for everyone.
“That said, if you’re not compatible, it takes a lot of courage, but it’s better to make a move than hold each other back. I mean, we’re not meant to last forever.”
In 2020, Helena once again gave a rare insight into her divorce from Tim.
The Crown actress hinted that while she was “reluctant” to end their relationship, adding: “Some parts of the divorce are recommended.”
Helena describes her experience as follows: ‘The cruelty of divorce is extraordinary. But then you get to a point where you’re like, “Oh, I have this week off!” Some parts are highly recommended.’
Helena also revealed that she believes The Crown creator Peter Morgan asked her to play Princess Margaret because she could relate to a very public breakup.
Although Helena insisted she couldn’t reveal why she and Tim went their separate ways, she did say: “I didn’t leave, just put it that way.”
Tim started dating Italian actress Monica Bellucci, 61, in 2022, but the pair split in autumn 2025 (pictured in September 2024)
Tim started dating Italian actress Monica Bellucci, 61, in 2022, but the couple split in the fall of 2025.
The couple issued a joint statement to the press, saying: ‘It is with great respect and deep concern for each other that Monica Bellucci and Tim Burton have decided to part ways.’
Monica later added, “There are roads that cross at some point to form a path that goes on forever…Tim’s road and mine met to form a path and then split again.
‘But as long as I live, Tim will always have a unique place in my heart.
Before Tim, Helena began a relationship with Sir Kenneth Branagh while he was still married to Emma Thompson, after co-starring with him in the 1994 film Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The couple separated in 1999.
