Kristin Scott Thomas Reflects on Newfound Joy and Marriage
Actress Kristin Scott Thomas, 66, has shared rare insights into her personal life, revealing that finding love in her sixties has brought her a profound sense of joy, exceeding anything she felt in her younger decades. The acclaimed star recently spoke about her marriage to John Micklethwait, 63, the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, whom she secretly wed two years ago.
In a candid conversation on Elizabeth Day’s How To Fail podcast, Thomas was asked if she felt happier now than she did ten or twenty years ago. Her response was affirmative: “I do. And I think it’s because, well, I found love, which is a very lovely thing to happen.” She also attributed this contentment to a sense of completion in her career, particularly in her approach to portraying tragic roles.
Artistic Fulfillment and Emotional Catharsis
Thomas elaborated on her career journey, stating, “I’ve also managed to kind of complete things in my career. And when I say that, I mean, I’ve played, I’ve sort of done tragedy now. I feel I’ve sort of done it and I’ve emptied the bag. There’s no more left.” She cited her role in “Elektra” as a turning point, explaining, “I think I did that when I did Elektra. I think that’s what I thought, oh, I don’t have to do that ever again. I don’t have to weep for a dead father ever again. And so that was quite healing, I would say, playing that.”
A Collaborative Creative Partnership
The private actress also discussed the experience of collaborating with her husband on the screenplay for “My Mother’s Wedding,” a film inspired by her own life. The project, which she also directed, features a star-studded cast including Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, and Emily Beecham. The film’s narrative centers on three sisters reuniting at their family home for their twice-widowed mother’s third wedding, each navigating their own personal struggles.
Describing the creative process with Micklethwait, Thomas remarked, “It was great, it was really fun. We complement each other.” She highlighted their differing strengths: “He manages to hold a lot of things in place at the same time whereas I’m totally scatterbrained and I find that quite difficult. I’m much better at dialogue than he is, I could hear the voices but he could build the structure.”
Personal History and Enduring Impact
The couple, who had been together for five years prior to their marriage, exchanged vows in 2024. Sources close to the couple at the time described them as a “perfect match,” noting their shared intelligence, wit, curiosity, and deep devotion to one another.
Thomas has three children—Hannah, Joseph, and George—from her previous marriage to François Olivennes, from whom she divorced in 2005 after 17 years. “My Mother’s Wedding” draws heavily from Thomas’s poignant childhood experiences, including the loss of both her father and stepfather in separate military jet crashes. She also shared the profound impact of her mother Deborah’s passing after a battle with cancer, describing the grief as being “run over by a tank.”
Recalling the devastating losses, Thomas stated, “My father died when I was nearly five and a half. And then when I was 11, and I just started a new school, it happens again. And that was much more than anybody could really handle, I think, by themselves.” She continued, “Grieving for my mother was just like being run over by a tank. I just could not, because now I was, I’d got over all those things and I’d accepted the fact that one is able to grieve and all this. And so that was a massive shock.”
