Helena Bonham Carter — known for her roles in the “Harry Potter” film franchise and Netflix’s “The Crown” — has developed quite the following, and she’s using her clout to stick up for two famed figures whose reputations have been tarnished in Tinseltown, J.K. Rowling and Johnny Depp.
In a recent interview with The Times, Bohman Carter rebuked the backlash Rowling has faced in recent years as “horrendous” and “a load of bullocks.”
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“I think she has been hounded,” the 56-year-old actor said of the “Harry Potter” novelist. “It’s been taken to the extreme, the judgmentalism of people. She’s allowed her opinion, particularly if she’s suffered abuse.”
“Everybody carries their own history of trauma and forms their opinions from that trauma,” continued Bonham Carter. “And you have to respect where people come from and their pain. You don’t all have to agree on everything — that would be insane and boring. She’s not meaning it aggressively, she’s just saying something out of her own experience.”
Rowling fell out of favor in June 2020, when she critiqued the transgender movement. As CBN’s Faithwire reported at the time, the British-born author tweeted, “If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased.”
Immediately, Rowling was hit with a leftist wave, facing accusations of “transphobia” and even losing the support of “Harry Potter” stars Emma Watson and Daniel Ratcliffe. Other stars, like Tom Felton, who played the franchise villain Draco Malfoy, stood by Rowling.
Bonham Carter also seemingly called out the “Harry Potter” celebrities who have publicly spoken out against Rowling for voicing her views.
“Personally, I feel they should let her have her opinions,” she said. “But I think they’re very aware of protecting their own fan base and their generation.”
During the wide-ranging interview, Bonham Carter also stood up for Depp, whom she has worked with on several films, including “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”
She said she sees Depp as “completely vindicated” following an intense and heavily publicized legal battle with ex-wife Amber Heard of “Aquaman” fame. Heard indirectly accused Depp of physically abusing her during their romantic relationship, an allegation the “Black Mass” star has vociferously denied.
He sued Heard for defamation and, over the summer, scored a major legal victory after the jury sided with him in the spat between the two celebrities.
“Oh, I think he’s completely vindicated,” Bonham Carter said. “I think he’s fine now — totally fine.”
Bonham Carter addressed the central issue she believes connects both Rowling and Depp’s demise: cancel culture, a flourishing phenomenon that has swept Western society since the onset of social media.
“Do you ban a genius for their sexual practices?” she asked hypothetically. “There would be millions of people who, if you looked closely enough at their personal life, you would disqualify them.”
The “Fight Club” star added, “You can’t ban people. I hate cancel culture. It has become quite hysterical, and there’s a kind of witch hunt and a lack of understanding.”
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