Liam Neeson opens up about his wife’s passing

Actor Liam Neeson has spoken openly about his wife Natasha’s passing, saying he never realised how closely his work would imitate his life.

Neeson was promoting the remake of Love Actually for charity benefit Red Nose Day when he reflected on how close his personal life ended up being to that of his character in the film.

In Love Actually, Neeson plays Daniel, a man who is dealing with the grief of losing his wife to cancer.

Just six years after making the movie, Neeson’s wife Natasha Richardson was killed in a skiing accident while on holiday in Canada.

He said revisiting his character again after all these years, helped him to reflect on his life and how much had changed.

“It’s 14 years ago now and we’ve all lived lives. Some of us have died. Oh, my dear old friend Alan Rickman, God rest him,” he told EW.

“Some have gotten divorced. I’ve lost my wife.”

“And, oh, sure, plenty of times I’ve thought about this film and my own life. Love Actually, that’s the way it is. That’s the tapestry of life.”

He has previously spoken about the day of Natasha’s accident, saying he was filming nearby in Toronto when he got the call.

“I spoke to her and she said, ‘Oh darling. I’ve taken a tumble in the snow.’ That’s how she described it,” he told 60 Minutes.

“When I was in the air the pilot was told, ‘Listen, divert your flight to Montreal because she’s gonna be taken to the – the big hospital in Montreal.’ I got a taxi to this hospital and uh – this doctor, he looked all of 17, showed me her X-ray. And you didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to see what was happening.”

As he explained, “The brain’s squashed up against the side of the skull. And it’s – as the blood tries to get a release.”

He continued, “I was told she was brain dead. And seeing this X-ray it was, like, ‘Wow.’ But obviously she was on life support and stuff. And I went in to her and told her I loved her. Said, ‘Sweetie, you’re not coming back from this. You’ve banged your head. It’s – I don’t know if you can hear me, but that’s – this is what’s gone down. And we’re bringing ya back to New York. All your family and friends will come.’ And that was more or less it.”

Neeson continued to raise their two sons, Michael and Daniel, as a single parent saying he kept up a steady stream of work to help his state of mind.

“I’m not good without work,” he said. “I just don’t – I just don’t wallow too much. You know? And I just didn’t want to – especially for my boys – seem to be wallowing in sadness or depression.”

Are you a fan of Liam Neeson? Can you relate to what he’s been through?