Helena Bonham Carter was 52 and had been alone for four years after separating from Tim Burton when life played a beautiful trick on her: she almost didn’t go to that wedding. There she met Rye Dag Holmboe, a Norwegian historian and psychoanalyst, 22 years younger than her. Eight years later, they live together in London with their rabbits and a terrier named Pablo, and they are seen holding hands on every morning walk.
What is captivating is not just the love story, but also how she stands up to the world. When asked about her boyfriend’s age, she neither apologizes nor explains herself: “People are not necessarily their chronological age”, she says, and caps it with the phrase that sums it all up: “Collagen is not the only form of sensuality; there is character, fun, mischievousness, and humor”.
No one asks a 60-year-old man the same thing when he has a younger partner, and she knows it. That’s why, when Cher confirmed her romance with a man 40 years younger, Helena didn’t hesitate to stand up for her: “Good for men for appreciating different kinds of beauty”. A woman who decided that happiness has no expiration date, and no permission to ask for.
