Liam Neeson has shared the sad things he said to his late wife Natasha Richarson as she lay brain dead in a medically-induced vegetative state after being involved in a catastrophic skiing accident.
In 2009,Liam Neesonwas dealt a heartbreaking blow with the loss of his beloved wife, Natasha Richardson, in a skiing accident.
It was in a bizarre skiing accident that Natasha was killed at the age of 45. The pair had been married since 1994 and had two children together – Micheál, 25, and Daniel, 24 – before Natasha was sadly killed.
He has spoken up about his family's loss and how playing a grieving spouse in the comedy-drama Made In Italy was "cathartic" for him ahead of its release on Amazon Prime Video. The film also stars his oldest son Micheál, who plays the role of the grieving husband.
On the Graham Norton Show via video connection, Liam, who is 68 years old, said that playing a guy grieving the death of his wife was "a little close the knuckle" for him.
"When I first read the script, I thought to myself, 'Oh my gosh, this is getting a little close to the knuckle.' Despite the fact that I had churning in my stomach, I decided it would be wonderful to do it with my son."
In 1993, Liam met Natasha Richardson while playing in a performance of the play Anna Christie on Broadway. The two were engaged the following year. The pair had barely been dating for nearly a year when they decided to tie the knot on July 3, 1994. Their children were born in the following years: Michael, who was born in 1995, and Daniel, who was born in 1996, and they raised them together. The family of four spent most of their time in the United States, where they bought a house in New York in 2004.
It was with Liam Neeson that the world wept at the death of his wife Natasha Richardson in 2009. The duo was a well-known Hollywood couple that shared a strong relationship that was difficult to overlook. In a recent interview, Neeson said that there was one incident that almost prevented the two of them from becoming a couple. She informed Neeson that if he was cast in an iconic part, she would not be marrying him before the pair tied the knot. Continue reading to find out which character she did not want her future spouse to portray.
When she was forced to be taken from life support, her death came as a complete surprise. Natasha Richardson died on March 18, 2009, in a New York City hospital after sustaining a traumatic brain injury while skiing in the Quebec city of Mont-Tremblant. She was 26 years old. She had been injured when she fell while hiking with an instructor on a beginners' trail two days before. She originally appeared to be in good health, but she would later require medical attention and would be transported to a hospital in an ambulance. She would be taken off life support a few days after that.
Liam Neeson may have made a name for himself by portraying strong, abrasive characters on television, but when it comes down to it, he is just as vulnerable as the rest of us.
He's been a professional actor for more than forty-four years, but it was the Taken franchise that propelled him to global prominence. As a result, most modern audiences have only just begun to recognize his abilities; they have little understanding of the agonizing obstacles he has had to face to get to this point.
His life was flipped upside down in a matter of days when his wife, Natasha Richardson, died as a result of injuries she incurred in a skiing accident on March 18, 2009. This was the most devastating of these tragedies, and it completely changed his outlook on life.
Twelve years have passed since her passing, but as anybody who has suffered a terrible loss will confirm, the wounds do not heal as quickly as one would like. Despite this, Liam continues to chug ahead, doing what he can to piece his life back together one step at a time. Here's what we may take away from his experience with grief:
Liam Neeson opens up about wife Natasha Richardson's death
More than often, Liam Neeson has spoken candidly about his wife's passing, most recently when promoting his next picture Made In Italy, which will be released in 2020. It follows a father and son who are struggling to come to terms with the deaths of their wives as well as their mother. The film also has Liam's eldest son Micheal as a co-star. As you might understand, this was a very personal issue for me.
Liam explained that playing the bereaved spouse was "cathartic in a manner —the way that art can be sometimes," and that he enjoyed the experience. Although there were "sensitive emotional situations" sprinkled throughout the picture, Liam remarked that he didn't have any problem connecting with those nuanced moments, and he assumed that Micheal didn't have too much trouble as well.
After everything was said and done, it turned out to be a transformative experience for the couple, allowing them to connect with one another on a more fundamental level and move ahead in their mourning journeys.
Forging ahead comes with its own set of challenges and difficulties. After a period of time, your recollections become less clear, and you must turn to others for help to fill in the missing pieces. "I haven't had any really vivid dreams about Natasha," the actor admitted.
"Some people who were really close friends of Natasha's informed me about their nightmares," says the narrator. It was also revealed that Natasha's death has prompted him to reflect on such ideas as the existence of heaven, hell, and an undefined afterlife.
He'd strayed from his Catholic religion when he was in his twenties, but the loss of a loved one has given him the opportunity to ponder the vast, incomprehensible secrets of the cosmos. However, no matter how well-adjusted you believe you are, the ravening clutches of sadness are constantly lurking around, ready to devour you.
In 2011, Liam Neeson told Esquire that one can never truly prepare for sadness, that it will hit at the most inconvenient of times and places, and that one must simply learn to roll with the punches. He was under the impression that he could just pre-plan his sobbing sessions and "get over it" whenever he wanted. In these situations, there is no point in putting off what must be done; thus, when the suffering strikes, you must deal with the emotions as they naturally flow through your body.
The unfortunate circumstances surrounding Natasha's death further added to the difficulty of the grieving process for her family and friends. According to Liam in his interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, the incident was a complete surprise to everyone involved.
When Natasha took her first fall, which she characterized in her conversation with Liam as a "soft tumble in the snow," she declined medical assistance, claiming she was healthy enough for a trip back to her hotel without further evaluation. Through the phone, she chatted with her husband and convinced him that she was in good health.
In Natasha's case, she was experiencing what medical experts refer to as a "lucid interval," which is defined as "a period during which someone who has suffered a head injury seems normal, but blood is building up in the brain, generating pressure that can be deadly."
Her head began to ache shortly after, and a second ambulance was dispatched to her Montreal hotel to treat her injuries. By the time Liam arrived at the hospital, his wife's health had deteriorated to the point that she had been certified brain-dead by doctors. When Liam arrived on the scene, he assessed the situation quickly and realized in his heart that his wife's time on this planet was drawing to a close.
Earlier, the father of two informed Anderson Cooper that he and his wife had established a "pact" that if either of them went into a vegetative condition, the other would "draw the plug" on the other. Liam described the final chat he had with his wife in great detail. "I walked into her room and confessed my feelings for her. "Sweetie, you're not going to make it out of this alive." Your skull has been bashed." He went on to say that he vowed to bring her back to New York so that her family and friends could say goodbye to the woman they cherished.
As part of his confession, the action movie actor disclosed that he had given three of his wife's organs - the heart, the liver, and the kidneys — a decision that would have left her feeling ecstatic and happy. The first couple of years were extremely difficult for Liam, as he had to adjust his expectations and way of life to meet the demands of his new reality. With two teenage sons and a single parent in his forties, he had to figure out how to both soothe his children while also regaining control of his own mental health at the same time. As is common when a close partner passes away, Liam was aware of her presence everywhere he went for the first several years after her death.
To provide an example, he'd grown so accustomed to the way she opened their front door that whenever he heard the same door opening, it caused him to have a "deep sensation of instability," in which the world no longer felt solid and there was no way out of the agony. Fortunately, these incapacitating episodes grow less frequently with time, and Liam has been able to get back on his feet and deal with his wife's loss at a reasonable pace as the years have passed.
He also stated that his continuing work has played a significant role in his grief process, noting that he is not "good without work" and that he would most certainly be wallowing in misery if he were unable to continue his job.
You can't prepare for loss, as Liam so eloquently put it. Whether or not you've had the opportunity to experience it yet, it's important to remember that it will manifest itself in your life at some point in the near future. However, there is no purpose in establishing a predetermined plan for dealing with sadness because it is a roving beast that only acts on its own whims.
The only thing you can do to prepare is to do nothing at all and to live each and every day to the fullest extent possible. However, this should not give you the license to indulge in irresponsible or harmful activity; rather, it should motivate you to cherish the moments you spend with your family and friends or to devote more time and energy to your passions and hobbies. Perhaps there are some silver linings to sadness after all if it can motivate you to live life with a fresh perspective.
In the new film, Liam and Micheál portray a father and son who have both lost their wives and mothers, respectively. "That is something we can all connect to," Liam stated. When I first read the script, I thought to myself, "Oh my my, this is getting close to the knuckle."
"I had a churning sensation in my stomach, but I decided it would be wonderful to do it and to do it with my kid." Micheál claimed that before filming began, he and his father discussed whether or not they were happy with the idea of acting out the horrific episodes on TV. The following is what he said: "We had a chat about it previously."
"I believe Dad was more concerned about the media element of it, and the possibility of my being questioned about Mum and other personal matters, but I was fine with it," He recalled. Otherwise, it was strange to be selling a family home that Mum had grown up in ten years after her death, which made it a bit more difficult for us."
When asked about the fact that they spoke things to one other in the movie that they would not have said in real life, Liam remarked, "It was therapeutic in a way - in the way that art can be sometimes." Micheál and I both agreed that there were some really sensitive emotional passages, that I was able to access the feeling without any difficulty, and that I didn't need to build up to it over a period of days. We had such a careful producer, as well as such a supporting staff, that we felt completely at ease."
The love of a lifetime has been found. Despite the fact that Natasha Richardson passed away in 2009, Liam Neeson has never stopped gushing about how wonderful their relationship was.
The Taken actor and the Parent Trap actress first met in 1993 while both were working on the Broadway production of Anna Christie. At the time, Richardson was married to producer Robert Fox, but her chemistry with the Northern Ireland native was undeniable to them both.
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