This Fact About Emma Thompson's Outfit In Love Actually Keeps Me Up At Night

Fans have recently noticed that Karen, the character Emma Thompson plays in Love Actually, bought earrings to match the necklace she thought her cheating husband (played by Alan Rickman) was giving her for Christmas. 

But that heartbreaking detail is only one surprising fact about the character’s outfit. 

Speaking to The Telegraph in 2005 having just filmed Nanny McPhee, she said: “After my daughter was born, I’ve chosen to play an angry angel, a tortured woman and a monstrously ugly nanny.” 

She added, “Oh, and I wore a fat suit for Love Actually.” 

The actor continued, “I knew just how to play that part... I’ve had so much bloody practice at crying in a bedroom and then having to go out and be cheerful, gathering up the pieces of my heart and putting them in a drawer.

“But what I haven’t done recently is play a moral woman in a period frock, which must come as something of a relief to us all.” 

The star has since both worn an old-timey dress (in a 2017 special of Upstart Crow and the 2017 live-action Beauty And The Beast), but she also donned a “fat suit” in 2022′s Matilda: The Musical. 

The actor, who played former hammer player and headmaster Agatha Trunchbull, which sparked some debate among viewers.  

Some called the outfit “dehumanising and degrading,” while others argued it was just part of the character. 

But her padded figure in Love Actually ― which has also been separately called out for its fat jokes ― seems to have largely gone under the radar (perhaps because I’d never have believed she was wearing one if she hadn’t said).