Natasha was 29 at the time, and married to producer Robert Fox. That wasn’t enough to stop the romance from blossoming between her and Liam, though. Her marriage was falling apart, and at the same time, she “fell very much in love” with Liam.
Their chemistry was obvious for everyone present. Luckily for Liam, who was 40 at the time, Natasha’s marriage to Robert was already coming to an end.
When Natasha celebrated her 30th birthday, Liam decided to send her a card from the set of Schindler’s List.
”You’re catching up with me. Lots of love, Oskar.” (Liam played Oskar Schindler in the film.)
But Natasha didn’t find the message as romantic as intended. Instead, she decided it was time to be upfront.
She responded by saying: ”This is like a letter from a buddy. What is our relationship?”
Right then and there, Liam knew he had fallen in love with her.
”That was when I knew I really loved this person,” he said.
”I thought, ‘This is real and genuine and is something that has to be protected.’”
Not long after, in the summer of 1994, the two were married on a farm in upstate New York.
Had two sons together
In 2018, the 63-year-old Taken actor recently appeared on My Favorite Song with John Benjamin Hickey on SiriusXM channel, when he recalled a super sweet moment from his 1994 wedding to Richardson.
Neeson revealed that their wedding song was Van Morrison’s “Crazy Love.”
They had two sons together: Michael born in 1995, followed by Daniel in 1996.
Tragically, Natasha passed away in 2009 at age 45, following a skiing accident in Quebec.
Natasha was taking private skiing lessons in the Mont Tremblant resort when she fell on a beginner’s slope. As Richardson was skiing near Montreal, she fell and took a blow to the head. She was not wearing a helmet.
In the beginning, no one, including Richardson, thought it was severe.
The actress felt okay and against her instructor’s will, she decided to go ahead with her skiing lesson. After a while, the instructor called a ski patrol and wanted medical assistance and an ambulance. But Natalie refused.
However, Natalie and the ski instructor returned to her luxurious Hotel Quintessence room and did checkups to ensure she was okay.
Later, it was revealed that the paramedics who came to the room were turned away. They again recommended she should be seen by a doctor.
Approximately an hour after the incident Mrs. Richardson was not feeling good. An ambulance was called and Mrs. Richardson was brought to the Centre Hospitalier Laurentien in Ste-Agathe and was later trasferred to Hôpital du Sacre-Coeur”.
It turned out that she had suffered serious trauma and it turned out that the impact had left her brain “squashed up against the sided of her skull.”
“I was told she was brain dead. She was on life support and stuff,” Neeson recalled. “And I went in… and told her I loved her. I 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.’”
In the end, Neeson understood that he had to remove her from life support. On 60 Minutes, he explained that the two had “made a pact” that if either one of them got into a “vegetative state,” they were to “pull the plug.”
Natasha passed away on March 18, 2009. But one comforting thing for Neeson was finding her wife’s organ donor status. He said that her heart, liver, and kidneys went to people in need.
For five years following her tragic death, grief-stricken Liam kept silent, finally opening up in a 2014 episode of 60 Minutes.
”I went in to her and I told her I loved her…”
He went on to tell Anderson Cooper that he hadn’t understood the seriousness of Natasha’s accident.
Liam recalled arriving at the hospital. ”She was on life support”, he said.
At the hospital, Liam was shown Natasha’s X-rays.
Doctors told him that his wife was alive, but was considered to be in a vegetative state. She would never recover, according to the medical professionals.
”I’ve taken a tumble in the snow..”
”I spoke to her and she said, “Oh darling. I’ve taken a tumble in the snow.”
‘That’s how she described it.”
It’s heartbreaking to hear him describe their final moments together.
”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”, he said.
And five years after she passed away, Liam was understandably still struggling to come to terms with his loss.
In an interview with Loaded magazine, he said: ”Her death was never real. It still kind of isn’t.”
Looking back at their marriage, one of Liam says one of his favorite things about Natasha was her generous and infectious maternal love.
“She cared for everybody,” he said. “She has a motherly instinct. And she’d make dinners for everyone and just looked looked after us all.”
The couple had consented to be organ donors, and Liam saw that promise through after Natasha’s death.
With her passing, Natasha gave life to three people, even though she left three family members behind whose lives would never be the same again.
”Life is very short”
Now, each year, as their wedding anniversary rolls around, Liam remembers the love they shared.
In 2016, Liam shared a message with fans on social media remembering his late wife. He advised everyone to cherish their partners and make the most of each and every day together.
”We have to stop and be thankful for our spouses. Because, life is very short. Spend time with your spouses. Treat them well. Because, one day, when you look up from your phone, they won’t be there anymore. Live and love (every day) like it’s your last. Because, one day, it will be. Take chances and go live life. Tell the ones you love, that you love them every day.”
Liam could not underline enough that people should not take any moment for granted. “Life is worth living,” he said.
Very true, Liam. Very true indeed.
What beautiful memories he has to cling to, and wonderful life instructions for the rest of us to remember and guide us through our own lives!
Helen Mirren believed that the bikini snapshot her husband captured of her on the beach would remain a private, intimate moment – but internet didn’t listen
Helen Mirren has definitely earned a legion of fans throughout her more than 50-year career as an actress, and her commitment to ageing naturally has garnered her even more popularity.
Mirren started off in the entertainment industry as a theater actress, joining the Royal Shakespeare Company before making her debut on London’s West End in 1975.
Though, the now-78-year-old didn’t become a household name until later on in her life – she was 35 when she landed her breakout role as a gangster’s girlfriend in ‘The Long Good Friday’ (1980), opposite Bob Hoskins.
Having focused on her career for much of her adult life, finding the right partner and having children wasn’t on Mirren’s radar… Until she met her now-husband – US film director Taylor Hackford.
“I was 38 when I met Taylor, pretty late in life,” she stated in a 2016 AARP interview, recalling how the director had kept her waiting for an audition when they first met. When she eventually landed the part, the pair got to know each other and their relationship grew from there.
Eventually, Mirren and Hackford were able to bond over their similar working class upbringings (her mother was a working class woman whose own family came from a long line of butchers, while Mirren’s father was a Russian aristocrat who escaped to the UK during the Russian Revolution and became a cab driver to support his family).
The future spouses also bonded over their love for traveling, and apparently had a similar view on storytelling, both being in the entertainment industry.
Even though Hackford’s two children from previous marriages supported Mirren’s union with their father, this didn’t change her stance on becoming a mother herself. Though, she did explain that she found Hackford’s dedication to being the best parent to his children rather endearing.
The pair eventually married in 1997, after they came to the realization that they knew they would be together forever. At that point, they’d been together for over a decade.
The infamous swimsuit photo
Fast forward to 2008, and Mirren went viral for an image her husband snapped of her at the beach… Something that stunned fans and even the legendary actress herself!
The married couple had been on a romantic Italian beach vacation when they trekked to a secluded beach spot to take in the breathtaking views in private.
She recalled how she took a photo of her husband and then, in return, he snapped a quick pic of her. Though, Mirren said that the moment she sucked in her stomach when posing, she saw a small flash in the distance and crouched down on the rocks to hide from the apparent paparazzo.
When Mirren’s husband turned around, he couldn’t see the paparazzo, and said his wife was just being “paranoid”. Though, sure enough, the photo taken of Mirren in a red bikini was posted by a tabloid and went viral everywhere.
A few years later the actress told Ellen DeGeneres on the latter’s talk show that the image was just a fluke, saying: “I look at that picture and say, god, I wish I look like that. But I don’t.”
Years later, people are still stunned by the image of Mirren, who was 63 years old at the time it was taken – with many people on the internet commenting that they don’t look half as good as her despite being decades younger!
In 2014, the Oscar winner spoke about the image just before her 68th birthday, telling People: “The truth is I don’t really look that good, it was just a flattering picture.”
She added: “I am beyond the bikini-wearing age, really. I wouldn’t normally wear one. I look like a woman in her 60s. I’ve always looked awful in a bikini, even when I was young.”
What do you think of Helen Mirren’s stunning bikini image? Let us know in the comments!
If you liked this article, then you’ll definitely be interested in reading about how Julie Andrews made a rare public appearance at 87.
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