Helena Bonham Carter Has a ‘Magic’ New Boyfriend

Helena Bonham Carter is on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar UK’s December issue. The magazine has (rightly) deemed the actress their “woman of the year” and a “national treasure,” and the cover shoot by Pamela Hanson is glorious, a celebration of Bonham Carter’s glamorous eccentricity. In the accompanying profile, the actress—who is 53—opens up about her relationship with her boyfriend of a year, the 32-year-old Norwegian writer Rye Dag Holmboe.

Back in 2014, Bonham Carter split up with her partner of thirteen years, director Tim Burton. They share two children, eleven-year-old Nell and sixteen-year-old Billy. Bazaar writer Lydia Slater noted that the last time she and Bonham Carter had met, she was mourning the end of that relationship. But she’s in a much better place now.

“You break up, you grieve, you get bored of grieving, and then you finally move on,” said Bonham Carter. “I’m very happy with someone else. It’s been a bit of unexpected magic in my life.”

Bonham Carter revealed that two share a “fur baby,” a Tibetan terrier named Pablo. “Mother and dog are doing very well,” she said.

Things are going well professionally, as well—Bonham Carter will appear in the highly-anticipated third season of The Crown, in a starring role as Princess Margaret. “When I turned 50, I worried it was downhill all the way,” she says. “But it’s quite the opposite. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier or more fulfilled. This huge blooming of television means character-driven stories, so there’s a lot of choice and a lot of work. When I was young, you were considered ‘older’ over 30.”