It's been nearly a year since Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton revealed that they'd called it quits after 13 years together, and now the actress is breaking her silence on the high-profile Hollywood breakup.
Speaking with Red magazine for their November issue (on sale Oct. 1), the 49-year-old opened up about the shocking split, admitting that the pair still have something special, but that doesn't guarantee their romance was meant to last forever.
"I could write a thesis on what's happened and it is all-absorbing when a relationship breaks down, but I think we're coming through it, and I think we'll have something very precious still. Our relationship was always somewhat special, and I think it'll always remain special," Carter began.
"We did find each other. And really, the mark of a successful relationship shouldn't be whether you're there forever after. Sometimes you're not meant to be forever together. Sometimes you have to come to terms with the fact that that was it. But that was a gift, a massive gift. We gave each other children and a lot more else.
"And we might be better, and still be able to give to each other, but not necessarily living together. Which we did by the way, because everyone seemed to think we didn't, but that was a load of myth," she added, mentioning the reports that they resided in two adjoining houses in London's Belsize Park.
The pair, who first met on the set of Burton's 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes, never married. On Dec. 23, 2014, their reps said the two had "separated amicably earlier this year and have continued to be friends and co-parent their children," son Billy, 11, and daughter Nell, 7.
"It's not without its pressures, working with Tim," Bonham once told The Guardian. "It worked on Alice. Sweeney was very stressful, very hard on our relationship."
"He's a partner in our private life, but when he's directing, he's the boss," she added. "And maybe I confuse that."
For further exclusive content, check out Carter's interview with Red magazine here.
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