Emma Thompson had her heart "very badly broken" by Sir Kenneth Branagh.

Emma Thompson

Emma Thompson

The 58-year-old actress was left devastated when she split from her husband in 1995 after six years of marriage after the actor had an affair with Helena Bonham Carter and she admitted she channeled her devastation into a famous scene in 2003's 'Love Actually', where her character Karen discovered the infidelity of her husband, Harry, who was played by the late Alan Rickman.

She said: "That scene where my character is standing by the bed crying is so well known because it's something everyone's been through.

"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.

"Well it wasn't exactly that, but we've all been through it."

The 'Beauty and the Beast' actress went on to find love again with Greg Wise, who she married in 2003, four years after the birth of their daughter Gaia, and the same year they informally adopted Rwandan orphan Tindyebwa, now 31.

Meanwhile, Emma also slammed the "dirty" movie industry and admitted she had been the subject of unwanted advances by a number of older men when she was younger.

Speaking at a fundraiser for the Tricycle Theatre in north west London on Sunday (25.02.18), she said: "Our industry, because part of what we have as actors, we have an attractivity level, and that's something that can get very dirty and grungy."

And the 'Alone in Berlin' actress insisted she doesn't worry about getting older and has accepted the changes in her appearance.

She said: "I feel like I look my age and I don't mind that. I put concealer under my eyes, but I like looking my age. I'm 58, I accept that.

The key to the spirit of youth is curiosity. If you're curious you feel alive. That and not being poor. Being old is heaven."