Lifestyle Celebrity health
she replied: “Oh, you know, the voices in my head. The constant ‘must do better’, ‘must try harder’, plus ‘you’re too fat and not a very good mother’. “That punitive conscience is part of my psychiatric problem.”
Ben Stiller, Emma Thompson & Dustin Hoffman at the photocall for "The Meyerowitz Stories" at the 70th Cannes Festival
saved me. He picked up the pieces and put them together again. “I don’t think I did stay sane,” she added. “I
should have sought professional help long before I actually did. Yes, divorce, ghastly, painful business but also fame, in some ways a ghastly, painful business as well.” During Desert Island Discs Thompson also
revealed she first experienced depression earlier in her career, while playing the leading role in a West End musical during the 1980s. “I think my first bout of that was when I was
doing Me and My Girl, funnily enough,” she remembered. “I really didn’t change my clothes or answer
the phone, but went into the theatre every night and was cheerful and sang The Lambeth Walk. That’s what actors do. But I think that was my first bout with an actual clinical depression.” Thompson also said acting has helped her cope
with her problem, describing it as “an escape from myself”. When the show’s presenter Kirsty Young asked Thompson what she was escaping,
Real tears The effect the breakdown of Thompson’s first marriage had on her has also been attributed as the motivation behind one of her best-known scenes. In the movie Love Actually, she plays a woman
who sobs uncontrollably when she realises her husband has been cheating on her after discovering jewellery he bought was not for her but for his lover. The reason she was so convincing in this scene, she says, is that she knew what it was like to have her heart broken – a reference to the fact that her first husband Branagh had an affair with actress Helena Bonham Carter while they were still married. “That scene where my character is standing by
the bed crying is so well known because it’s something everyone’s been through,” said Thompson at an event at the Tricycle Theatre in North West London. “I had my heart very badly broken by Ken. So I
knew what it was like to find the necklace that wasn’t meant for me. We’ve all been through it.” Talking to The Sunday Times, however, she says
she no longer dwells on that period in her life: “I’ve had so much practice at crying in a bedroom, then having to go out and be cheerful, gathering up the pieces of my heart and putting them in a drawer. “That is... all blood under the bridge. You can’t
hold on to anything like that. It’s pointless. I haven’t got the energy for it.”
Low mood: how to help yourself
According to the latest government statistics for England, an estimated one in six people experiences common mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety.
Here are some of the things the mental health charity Mind (
www.mind.org.uk) says you can do to help yourself if you’re feeling low:
• Get plenty of sleep, as it can improve your mood and increase your energy levels.
• Eat a balanced and nutritious diet. • Stay active – exercise can be a big boost to your mood. • Avoid drugs and alcohol. • Treat yourself – do at least one positive thing for yourself every day.
• Try new things (starting a new hobby, for instance, can help boost your mood).
• Keep a mood diary to keep track of how you’re feeling.
• Contact a helpline if you’re struggling – call the Mind Infoline on 0300 123 3393 to find out where you can get help.
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