Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter may have split more than a year ago, it emerged on Sunday.
The director and actress, who have been together for 13 years, said last week they had “separated amicably”.
However, it was claimed that the eccentric couple — who met on the set of 2001’s Planet of the Apes — ended their relationship as early as 2013.
Burton is said to be already in a long-term relationship with his production assistant.
“Tim and Helena have been living separate lives for [more than] a year,” a source told the New York Post.
“The separation announcement was made saying they’d split earlier this year, but they have been living apart for much longer. Both parties are happy with the situation. It is perfectly amicable.”
Burton, 56, and Bonham Carter, 48, who said they have “continued to be friends and co-parents”, put on a united front over Christmas, taking their children Billy Ray, 11, and Nell, 6, for a walk. Their separation comes more than a year after Burton was pictured in London in a passionate clinch with a mystery blonde, yesterday identified as his PA, Berenice Percival, who has a nine-year-old son.
Percival, 39, has worked for the director for three years and was claimed by friends to have been an important factor in the couple’s separation.
Yesterday, Daily Mail reported that Burton and Percival were now in a long-term relationship. A friend of the pair said: “Berenice is telling friends that they’re happy, in love and that she sees a future with Tim.
“He has been caring and a lovely father figure to her son. She refers to Tim as her boyfriend.”
At the time the photograph was taken in London in September 2013, Burton’s agent denied the director had been unfaithful and said he had simply been out with friends. On Sunday, a source close to the actress said Bonham Carter had fought to save the relationship.
The source added: “She thought Tim was having a mid-life crisis and gave him room to get it out of his system. But it never happened so she reluctantly decided to end things.”
Scottish-born Miss Percival began working for Tim Burton Productions as an assistant.
She worked on the films Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Sweeney Todd, both directed by Burton and starring Bonham Carter.
Percival initially dealt with basic administration for the company but has regularly accompanied Burton on business trips around the world.
The Mail was unable to contact Percival for a comment last night. Representatives for both Burton and Bonham Carter did not respond to inquiries.
