Helena Bonham Carter Defends 22-Year Age Gap With Boyfriend

Helena Bonham Carter is one of the most highly regarded actors working today. The 54-year-old performer has been nominated for two Oscars and has won over fans with her roles in the Harry Potter franchise and tons of fairy tales on the screen, from Alice in Wonderland to Cinderella. Next up, she's starring on Netflix's Emmy-winning royal drama The Crown. Following a recent interview to promote her arrival on the series, Bonham Carter is winning further plaudits for speaking about her boyfriend and defending older women dating much younger men. Bonham Carter has been dating 32-year-old writer Rye Dag Holmboe, who is 22 years her junior, for awhile now—but she's been largely mum about the relationship. In a lengthy interview with the Times of London, the actor defended their age gap, noting that labeling the younger man a boy toy is "a really sexist remark." Read on to find out what else Helena Bonham Carter had to say about her boyfriend, and for a former couple making headlines, check out Megan Fox Slams Ex Brian Austin Green for Posting a Photo of Their Kid.

"Along with the body, he's got a great mind and a great humour and that's what I'm with more than his envelope. Everybody ages at a different rate," Bonham Carter told the Times of London. "My boyfriend is unbelievably mature. He's an old soul in a young body, what more could I want?"

In Oct. 2019, Bonham Carter was evasive about her relationship with Holmboe, telling Harper's Bazaar, "You break-up, you grieve, you get bored of grieving, and then you finally move on. I'm very happy with someone else. It's been a bit of unexpected magic in my life." But now, she's speaking up.

In regards to the sexism surrounding older women dating younger men versus older men dating younger women, Bonham Carter said, "People are slightly frightened of older women, but he isn't. Women can be very powerful when they're older. Why can't we be sexually and romantically attractive just when our eggs are expired? Actually it's much more fun because we're so freed of the terror, there is no consequence, it's all just for fun."

Coincidentally, Bonham Carter's new role on The Crown sees her playing the Queen's sister, Princess Margaret, who created a scandal in 1973 after embarking on a relationship with Roddy Llewellyn, who was 17 years younger than her. "It was odd timing that I seem to have a similar age gap as her, but I think it would have happened whether I was playing her or not," said Bonham Carter.

For 13 years, Bonham Carter was famously in a relationship with film director Tim Burton, 62. The pair have two children together—Billy (born in 2003) and Nell (born in 2007)—and they worked together on films including Planet of the Apes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Sweeney Todd before separating in 2014.

"When I turned 50, I worried it was downhill all the way," she told Harper's Bazaar. "But it's quite the opposite. I don't think I've ever been happier or more fulfilled."

Read on for more famous women whose partners are younger, and for other Hollywood pairs with staying power, here are 20 Long-Term Celebrity Couples You Totally Forgot Are Still Together.

Read the original article on Best Life.

Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas got engaged in July 2018 just two months after they started dating. "People gave us a lot of **** about that and still do," Chopra told InStyle in May 2019 of their 10-year age gap. "I find it really amazing when you flip it and the guy is older, no one cares and actually people like it." And for more on Jonas' early days, check out The Biggest Disney Channel Stars, Then and Now.

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, who's 15 years the talk show host's junior, started dating in 2004. "It's the first time that I've known in every cell of my being that I'm with somebody for the rest of my life," DeGeneres told People in 2005. Four years later, they said "I do" after same-sex marriage was legalized in their home state of California. And for more legendary women, The Biggest Female Icon Every Year Since You Were Born.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb

In 2018, Heidi Klum started dating Tokio Hotel guitarist Tom Kaulitz, who is 16 years younger than her. They got married a year later and Klum told USA Today earlier this year that Kaulitz is "an amazing person. I couldn't be happier." And for more from the Queen of Halloween, here are The 30 Most Iconic Celebrity Halloween Costumes of All Time.

Though the rumor mill had been churning since 2015, it wasn't until the following year that Sarah Paulson confirmed her relationship with Holland Taylor, who's 31 years older than her. "What I can say absolutely is that I am in love, and that person happens to be Holland Taylor," Paulson said plainly in a 2016 interview with The New York Times. And for more on this duo, check out 13 Photos of Celebrity Couples When They First Got Together.

It was in 1995 that Hugh Jackman and Deborra Lee-Furness, who is 13 years his senior, first met on the set of the Australian show Correlli. They wed a year later and are still together today. Jackman told People in 2017 that despite their age difference, he's "literally the adult in the relationship. She's just like a little kid. I'm the [one saying], 'Babe, this is not a legal parking spot.'" And for more stars whose partners are of a different generation, check out 20 Celebrity Couples With Huge Age Gaps.