Helena Bonham Carter - Award Winning Actress, Depression
Helena Bonham Carter (born 26 May 1966) is an English actress. She made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before her debut film role as the titular character in Lady Jane.
She is known for her roles in films, such as A Room with a View, Fight Club, The King's Speech, and playing Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter series. She has frequently collaborated with director Tim Burton, in films Planet of the Apes, Big Fish, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Alice in Wonderland, and Dark Shadows. In 2012, she played Miss Havisham in Great Expectations, and Madame Thénardier in Les Misérables.
Her Success
A two-time Academy Award nominee for her performances as Kate Croy in The Wings of the Dove and as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in The King's Speech, Bonham Carter's acting has been further recognised with seven Golden Globe nominations, an International Emmy Award for best actress, three Primetime Emmy Award nominations, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 New Year honours list for services to drama, and received the honour from the Queen at Buckingham Palace on 22 February 2012.
In January 2014, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that Bonham Carter had been appointed to Britain's new national Holocaust Commission.
Family History & Mental Illness
Helena Bonham Carter believes she has the "potential" to go insane. The 'Alice in Wonderland' actress - whose mother Elena suffered a severe breakdown 38 years ago - believes mental illness is hereditary and accepts the fact she may suffer herself in the future.
"There's a good streak in our family of, I'd say, healthy insanity. My mother, and I know, my grandmother and great-grandmother. I think it's very much genetic. I haven't suffered yet, but I know there's potential there. I've been depressed and don't like it. I was definitely depressed when I was 18, wondering who I was." Helena Bonham Cater
Outwardly,Helena, the youngest of three children, was born into great privilege. Her father, the Honourable Raymond Bonham Carter, was a merchant banker who represented the Bank of England on the International Monetary Fund.
Helena’s great-grandfather was the Liberal Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, and her grandmother, the politician and orator Lady Violet Bonham Carter, was a close confidante of Winston Churchill. Meanwhile, Helena’s mother, the French-Spanish Elena Propper de Callejon, is from a long line of European noblemen. Helena was sent to the prestigious Westminster School in London, where she was close friends with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
But behind the façade is a more distressing reality. In 1971, when she was five, her psychotherapist mother suffered a three-year mental breakdown, which left her mostly bedridden. Then, eight years later, her father had suffered a massive stroke. He was left quadriplegic, nearly blind and needing round-the-clock care of nurses at the family’s huge home in Golders Green, North London.
Her elder brothers were away at college, so it fell to the 13-year-old Helena to help care for her father. His illness provoked her own battle with depression. ‘There’s a streak in our family of, I’d say, healthy insanity,’ she says. ‘We’ve all had a bit — my mother, my grandmother and my greaDespite her success, she stayed at the family home. The friend added: ‘Hellie couldn’t make the break after her dad’s illness — but she knew it wasn’t healthy to be living at home.’
After 24 years in a wheelchair, Raymond, who never lost his ability to speak, had another stroke. He died in January 2004, aged 74, with the actress at his side. Heartbreakingly, not long before, Raymond asked: ‘Helena, how do I die? I just can’t seem to do it.’
Unsurprisingly, her home setup hampered her love life. Her first serious relationship was in 1994 with Kenneth Branagh, with whom she starred in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Branagh was married to actress Emma Thompson, but within a year they’d split — gossips cited Bonham Carter as the cause.
But Helena was to be devastated in 1999 when Branagh ditched her.
Two years later she fell for U.S. film director Tim Burton on the set of Planet Of The Apes. The couple, who have two children — Billy Ray, seven, and three-year-old Nell — bizarrely share three adjacent townhouses in Belsize Park, North London — one for each parent and another for the nanny.
Burton has cast her in a series of his films, including Sweeney Todd and Alice In Wonderland, but it is her role in The King’s Speech — the story of the then Queen Elizabeth’s determination to help her husband George VI conquer his stammer — that has won her critical acclaim.
Helena’s success has allowed her to spend more time with her mother.
‘She took me to the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards in LA,’ Mrs Bonham Carter told me. ‘Now I’m just hoping she can repeat her success at the Oscars.’ It’s a success that seems all the more extraordinary given the struggles Helena faced in her early life.
"I was under a lot of scrutiny but I hadn't worked out for myself whether I wanted to act. I felt very isolated because I was out of my peer group." Helena, 43, sought therapy for her problems, but is unsure whether speaking to someone helped.
The actress - who landed her first acting role at 16 - added to The Times newspaper: "I had therapy. I'm not sure if the therapy helped. It just passed. It was fine. You find a way through it, but it is hard, still, to talk about it."
Depression and Treatment
Those with depression or other mental illnesses often find it difficult to speak up and seek help. The thought of seeking help for many makes them feel ashamed for not ‘working properly’, and this fear can leave people hiding their condition until it consumes them. We believe however that there should be no shame in seeking help for depression, anxiety or any mental illness. Like a broken leg or chest infection, mental illness is a real ailment needing treatment from a trained professional. The benefits of seeing a trained professional is coming to terms with your condition and helping yourself move on towards a better, more productive life.
If you suffer from a mental illness like depression, or knows someone who does; let them know that help is available at AB Consultation & Counselling Services. We will guide you on your road to recovery.