How Helena Bonham Carter's Childhood Tragedies Made Her A Star
In Hollywood, there are a lot of people who are really good at seeming interesting on the big or little screen. However, as anyone who watches talk shows will likely already realize, far too many of those same celebrities come off as a lot more shallow once they talk for themselves. On the other end of the spectrum, no matter how she may seem in movies, when Helena Bonham Carter gets interviewed, she comes across as a warm person with real depth to her.
During Helena Bonham Carter’s career, she has consistently played unique characters. With that in mind, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that there are many fascinating facts about Bonham Carter’s career. On top of that, it makes sense that people in Bonham Carter’s life seem to be charmed by her including Daniel Radcliffe who once wrote her a love letter. Given all of the things that Bonham Carter has going for her, some people may assume life has always been easy for her. As it turns out, however, Bonham Carter’s acting career only began in the first place due to a pair of tragedies from her childhood.
Helena Bonham Carter’s Mother’s Breakdown And Inspiring Recovery
During the early 2010s, Helena Bonham Carter was nominated for a long list of awards for her work in the critically acclaimed movie The King’s Speech. In February of 2011, Bonham Carter won the award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role at the BAFTAs. During Bonham Carter’s captivating acceptance speech, she cracked many jokes before touchingly paying tribute to her mother who she clearly adores.
“This is for all the best supporting wives — the Queen Mother herself, and my mum. There is no doubt that if my father were alive, he would have given it to her. She was the best supporting wife you could ever have wished for.” Bonham Carter’s mother wound up speaking to a reporter from the Daily Mail and responded to her daughter’s comments about her. “I didn’t know Hellie was going to say that — it was a huge surprise. But I was immensely touched by it, and she knows how very, very proud I am of her.”
Aside from talking about her mother during her BAFTAs speech, Helena Bonham Carter has expressed her admiration for her mom several other times in the past. In fact, Bonham Carter has revealed that she has her mother, who is a psychotherapist, read her scripts so they can talk about her character’s psychological motivations. With all of that in mind, it seems abundantly clear that Bonham Carter’s mom is a truly extraordinary person who is a rock when it comes to supporting her daughter. Sadly, however, when Bonham Carter was a child, her mom was going through a lot of struggles that made it difficult for the family.
When Helena Bonham Carter was only five years old, her mother suffered a mental breakdown that reportedly left her mostly bedridden for three years. Of course, having their mother mostly confined to her bed would be hard on any child. That said, it is extremely important to know that Bonham Carter seems to have the perfect perspective on her mother’s mental health struggle.
In recent years, Bonham Carter has spoken about people who deal with mental illness and it has been clear that she has empathy for anyone coping with that situation. Furthermore, Bonham Carter wants to make sure that people who’ve suffered mental breakdowns know there is nothing to be ashamed of.
Helena Bonham Carter’s Father’s Health Issues Directly Inspired Her Career
Five years after Helena Bonham Carter’s mother recovered from her mental breakdown, the actor’s father was diagnosed with acoustic neuroma, which is a benign brain tumor. Of course, people developing tumors seems to be a lot more common today, and a lot of regular people and many stars have beaten cancer. Still, it always is a little bit scary when someone you love has a tumor, whether it is benign or not. After learning about his tumor, Bonham Carter’s father opted to undergo surgery to have it removed. While most people who undergo that surgery suffer little to no serious side effects, that wasn’t the case for Bonham Carter’s dad.
Unfortunately for the entire family, something went seriously wrong during Helena Bonham Carter’s father’s surgery and he suffered a stroke. As a result, Bonham Carter’s father was left half-paralyzed which meant he had to use a wheelchair the rest of his life, he was partially blind, and he had other health issues. While speaking to the Sun in 2019, Bonham Carter spoke her father who passed in 2004.
“He was an amazing man with amazing determination. He had this alphabet board to talk with. Instead of answering with ‘no’ or ‘yes’ he would answer in an incredibly long sentence. But he had depression and felt terribly guilty that he was a burden.”
When Bonham Carter’s father was left paralyzed, her brothers were off at school and her mom could only do so much. As a result, when Bonham Carter barely was a teen, she took care of her dad. In the aforementioned interview with The Sun, Bonham Carter revealed the stresses of taking care of her father when she was a kid inspired her acting career. “My way of coping at 13 was I found an agent. I thought, ‘f*** this, I’m going to invent my own life’. It was a refusal to accept what happened.”
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