Monica Bellucci gave a candid insight into her romance with Beetlejuice director Tim Burton after they started a relationship almost 20 years after they first met.
The 59-year-old Italian actress said she “loves” the 66-year-old gothic filmmaker and described their time together as an “adventure.” They are said to have first met at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, but reportedly reunited in Lyon in October 2022.
Speaking to Elle France last year while the duo were filming Beetlejuice 2, Monica said: “What can I say… first of all, I’m glad I met the man.
“It is one of those encounters that rarely happen in life… I know the man, I love him, and now I am going to meet the director, a new adventure begins.
“I love Tim and have great respect for Tim Burton.”
Before finding love with Monica, Tim was in a relationship with Helena Bonham-Carter for 13 years. Before splitting in 2014, they had two children: Nell, 16, and Billy, 20.
The 58-year-old “Harry Potter” actress had previously compared the couple’s separation to a “death” and said she felt “immense sadness.”
She told Harper’s Bazaar in 2016: “You experience enormous grief – it’s the end of a relationship, it’s completely confusing. Your identity, everything changes.”
Helena is now in a relationship with 35-year-old art historian Rye Dag Holmboe.
Monica has already been married twice: from 1990 to 1994 to the Italian photographer Claudia Carlos Basso and from 1999 to 2013 to the “Black Swan” actor Vincent Cassell. She has two daughters with Vincent: Deva, 20, and Leonie, 14.
Monica joined the cast of the highly anticipated sequel to the 1988 classic, playing Beetlejuice’s (Michael Keaton) wife Delores.
The upcoming film, titled Beetlejuice, also stars Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, Catherine O’Hara and Willem Dafoe.
Beetlejuice: In “Beetlejuice,” three generations of the Deetz family return to Winter River, where Beetlejuice is still haunted.
Lydia Deetz (Ryder)’s life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter Astrid (Ortega) discovers the mysterious model of the city in the attic and accidentally opens the portal to the afterlife.
With trouble brewing in both realms, it’s only a matter of time before someone says Beetlejuice’s name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his own brand of chaos.
The sequel premiered on Wednesday at the 81st Venice Film Festival. The film received a standing ovation after the festival opened.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is in UK cinemas from September 6th.
