Domestic Bliss

‘I see Helena Bonham Carter has signed herself up for parenting classes’ I told my daughter.

‘Who’s she?’

‘You know, that posh Gothic looking actress, has a role in the Harry Potter films’


‘Oh, who does she play? Mrs Weasley?’


‘No, I can’t remember exactly who, Draco’s mum? Anyway she is a baddie in the films’

‘No, I don’t know who you mean’.

‘Yes, you do. She played a monkey in the film ‘Planet of the Apes’ and is sort of married to some director and is usually in films with Johnny Depp.’

My daughter’s ears prick up at the mention of Depp. ‘Hmmm, I think I know who you mean.’

‘Anyway she and her 'domestic partner' (wiki's words not mine) apparently live in separate houses next door to each other. Isn’t that civilised? That must be the secret of a happy 'almost marriage’. And how sensible is she to want to take parenting classes?’ I reached for the remote control and switched on the TV. A comedy sketch show was on, featuring impressionists. And who were they impersonating at that very moment? None other that Helena Bonham Carter and her husband Tim Burton!

There's more - we switched over and 'The Corpse Bride' was showing. This dark animation, directed by Burton, features the voices of Bonham and Depp.

There’s even more –  later that evening deciding what to watch we came across ‘Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’  the musical, starring, yes you’ve guessed it, Helen Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp (whose singing voice is obviously modelled on David Bowie’s, during Bowie’s ‘Anthony Newly’ stage of course). The film is directed by….Tim Burton. Spooky!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Bonham_Carter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweeney_Todd:_The_Demon_Barber_of_Fleet_Street_(2007_film)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpse_Bride

http://www.showbizspy.com/article/219016/helena-bonham-carter-admits-she-needs-parenting-classes-to-help-her-become-a-better-mom.html

They are certainly an unusual couple. Three years ago Helena, in an interview with Playboy magazine said the following:

The household of Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter is outfitted for Christmas – just not in the traditional manner.

"He (Burton) decorates it with dead babies and slime balls and things," Carter, 41, tells Playboy magazine in its January issue, about trimming the tree with boyfriend (of six years) Burton, 49. "It looks lovely and glittery from afar, and then as you get closer, you realize it's rather gory."
Lest anyone get the wrong idea, Carter, who stars with Johnny Depp in Burton's new movie musical Sweeney Todd, says, "We're not that dark. What I love about Tim is that he retains a certain innocence and a childlike quality. He sort of forgot to grow up. I think I've definitely forgotten to grow up, which is great."
Carter, who in 2003 gave birth to the couple's son Billy Ray – and is expecting their second child later this month – adds with a laugh, "At some point, [Billy] will probably want parents. He'll have to look elsewhere."Of their life at home life, where she and Burton share separate, yet attached, houses, Carter says: "Mine looks like Beatrix Potter. ... He has dead Oompa-Loompas around and multicolored fiberglass alien lamps. But then he has some nice red-button sofas from Sleepy Hollow. So it's a funny and good mix."
 
A newspaper had to print an apology earlier this year for saying the family lived in three connecting, but separate, houses. Burton in one, Carter in another and the children and their nanny in a third. The writer of the piece described this arrangement as 'chilling'. Certainly I would agree that three houses in which to house one small family is a bit extreme but if you can afford two connecting houses that sounds like heaven. Both Burton and Carter have their own tastes on interior design and both value their own 'space'.


'We haven't got a passageway [connecting the two homes] - we've just got a room ...between the two. And to me it makes complete sense: if you've got some money, and you can afford it, why not have your own space? It really is a great idea. You never have to compromise emotionally or feel invaded....I'm surprised when people find it weird, to be honest. It's not even that separate, really - it just looks like a quite big, strange house. And there's a sense of choice about things - you see each other when you want to.'

I am not sure what she means by 'compromise emotionally' and that by having your own space means never having to do it. If only it was that simple.

It seems Carter was very upset by the allegation that the children were housed in a 'unit' with just a nanny, and felt this painted her as a bad mother. Maybe this had something to do with her decision to take parenting classes. Or maybe Billy and Nell have reached the stage were they want grown ups as parents.

As a parent said to me this week, talking about his Autistic son, 'N is my teacher. I take my lead from him'.