Emma Thompson’s adopted son realized his mom was famous during class

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on November 14, 2022. It has since been updated.

Emma Thompson often talks about parenting and the lessons she’s learned from her children. In an interview with the New Yorker, Thompson shared an amusing anecdote about her son Tindyebwa Agaba Wise, a Rwandan refugee whom Thomson adopted in 2003. Tindyebwa, also known as Tindy, didn’t realize his mother’s popularity until more than a year after meeting her. In 2004, Tindy was taking a Shakespeare course at City and Islington College when his teacher showed the class Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing. He was “absolutely shocked” to see so many recognizable faces on TV, including Thompson herself, not to mention her mother, Phyllida Law, and actress Imelda Staunton.

“I went to my teacher and said, ‘How did this film come about? Because I know these people,’” he recalls telling his teacher. The teacher apparently laughed it off and said, “Don’t be ridiculous. These are famous actors.” Tindy said his teacher “couldn’t believe a word I said.” The following week, his teacher brought a copy of the Daily Mirror and asked if that was him in the photo, leaving Thompson’s house on his bike. “That’s how I found out that my mother was somehow well-known. I had no idea,” Tindy said. Tindy became a British citizen in 2009 and is now married to He Zhang. He worked as a detective in the London Detective Agency and has a master’s degree in human rights law. He has worked for more than a decade in human rights activism.

Thompson told the story of how she first met Tindy, which would eventually develop into one of the most important relationships of her life. In 2003, Tindy, then 16, met Thompson at a Christmas celebration at the Refugee Council, Thompson’s umbrella organization that helps refugees and asylum seekers.

Although he spoke only a few words of English and French, he wanted to thank Thompson for the hot dinner. He was sleeping outside, near London’s Trafalgar Square, because of an error in his government aid application. “His spirit was visible — so clear — in his eyes. He lived everything, yet he was silent,” Thompson recalled of their mostly visual conversation. She added: “He saw something in me that he wanted to talk to.”

When Tindy met the actress and her husband, he recalled feeling he had “nothing to give” Thompson and Wise. “What he didn’t give!” Thompson disagreed vehemently with Tindy. “So much joy, so much insight to share in his empathy and his understanding of the world. We laugh—and he helps me laugh—at the strangeness of people, at the strangeness of life, at its cruelties and absurdities. It’s so comforting.”

Thompson credits Tindy with her personal transformation, claiming that he “was part of the healing.” She said, “I was told I was a wild and restless octopus. But they have three hearts and only live for two years. So now I’m looking for a calmer life where I won’t be as angry and my one heart will last a little longer.”