Sometimes, real life can feel just like the movies. Whether you're swept up in
an intense romantic relationship, stuck in a family drama that could rival The Godfather,
or simply falling over like Buster Keaton in his prime, life sometimes truly imitates art.
Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson perhaps embody this truth better than anyone: Their relationship
ranged from swoon-worthy love story to feel-good family flick to, sadly, heart-breaking tragedy.
Neeson and Richardson first met in 1993, when they co-starred in a production of Anna Christie
on Broadway. Although Richardson was married at the time, Neeson swept Richardson off her feet,
and the pair wed only a year after her divorce. The Taken star and Richardson enjoyed a charmed
life together, but unfortunately, their love story would later be cut short.
Neeson and Richardson's fairytale came to a tragic end in 2009, when Richardson was killed
in a devastating ski accident. Richardson had been taking a ski lesson at the Mont
Tremblant resort in Canada when she sustained a traumatic head injury on a beginner slope.
Although Richardson felt fine initially, and even turned down medical attention,
her condition worsened, and she was eventually sent to the hospital. By the time Neeson arrived,
she had been declared brain dead. In 2014, Neeson opened up about the accident to Anderson Cooper.
"I just told her I loved her, and I said 'sweetie, you're not coming back from this.'"
The actor went on to say that both of them had previously "made a pact" to
"pull the plug" should either land in a vegetative state.
So, that's what he ultimately did. Richardson died with her family by her side.
It's clear enough that Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson shared a deep and loving bond that
was tragically cut short. Left to raise their two young sons alone, Neeson admitted in an interview
with 60 Minutes that he coped with his loss by throwing himself into his work. He said:
"I'm not good without work. [...] I just don't wallow too much. And I just didn't
want to — especially for my boys — seem to be wallowing in sadness or depression."
Although Neeson has mostly kept silent since the tragedy,
he has, at times, publicly reminisced about his life with Richardson. In 2016,
he revealed to SiriusXM that his late wife once secretly took singing lessons in order to serenade
him at their wedding with his favorite song, "Crazy Love" by Van Morrison. Neeson recalled:
"After the ceremony, we were all going in to start the night's festivities,
and she grabbed the microphone, and she sang me this. I was like, 'Wow.'"
Richardson's legacy obviously lives on in her husband and their children. But
while Liam Neeson and his two sons bore the brunt of the loss in 2009,
Natasha Richardson touched many other lives — in particular the lives of her colleagues. Her
Parent Trap co-star Dennis Quaid spoke highly of her on multiple occasions, for instance.
In an interview with Fox News 10 years after her death, he said:
"When they see The Parent Trap — she's a beautiful person,
and it comes through in that story. Remember her as she was:
a great mom to her two kids, and a beautiful person to her friends and her husband."
Quaid also remembered her in a 2018 interview with Us Weekly, when he said:
"When that accident happened, it just devastated me and so many other people.
She had such a beautiful love, married life with Liam, and two beautiful boys. She always had
a smile on her face when she came to work. That really affected everyone around her."
Lindsay Lohan, who played her daughters Hallie and Annie in The Parent Trap,
also paid tribute to her in May on what would have been the actor's 58th birthday. She shared
an image on her Instagram account of the two of them filming the movie with a caption that read:
"Happy Birthday Angel #natasharichardson."
Clearly, Richardson has impacted the lives of so many others — in addition,
of course, to her husband and her sons.
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