Liam Neeson has developed a reputation for being one of the fiercest, most powerful performers
in Hollywood.
He delivers an intensity that resonates with audiences, but his professional success has
come hand-in-hand with devastating hardship and loss.
This is Liam Neeson's tragic real-life story.
Boxing dreams KO'd
Long before he became a bonafide action star, Neeson dreamed of becoming a professional
athlete.
At age 9, he joined a local boxing club run by his family's parish priest, telling HuffPost
UK,
"He had two ropy pairs of ratty, old, ancient boxing gloves and a book on how to box.
He started at page one.
[…] And then six years later […] he guided our club to become one of the best clubs in
Ireland."
Neeson started competing at 11 and dreamed of reaching the same levels of success as
his hero, Muhammad Ali - who he met several times - but his career hit the ropes as a
teen.
"He was my idol.
John, he was my idol.
I was a boxer as a kid, so he was my idol."
Neeson told ESPN,
"I must have been 16.
I actually won the fight, but I came out of the ring and I had obviously got a concussion
because my trainer said to go downstairs and take my clothes off and stuff, and I couldn't
figure out what downstairs meant.
[…] I remember thinking, I've got to get out of this."
Neeson's soccer ambitions also fizzled.
While studying physics and computer science at Queen's University in Belfast, he caught
the eye of the Bohemian Football Club and tried out for the team.
That didn't work out, but Neeson eventually drifted to the Lyric Theatre in Belfast, where
he honed his passion for acting.
"I just knew I wanted to earn my living from this."
Brush with death
Neeson nearly died in 2000 when his motorcycle collided with a deer near his home in Upstate
New York.
According to the New York Post,
"The 48-year-old Neeson, who was wearing a helmet, was thrown from the motorcycle and
landed in a dirt embankment just before the bike crashed into a tree."
"I remember looking at the gauge before the deer came out, 26 miles an hour.
Did you bruise the deer at all, or…"
A passerby noticed the actor, and called for help.
Neeson told GQ in 2014,
"I wasn't supposed to last the night.
[…] When they took me to the hospital and gave me morphine, ugh, I thought, 'This is
how I want to go, with a big f---ing jar of this stuff.'"
Losing the love of his life
The single greatest tragedy in Neeson's life occurred in March 2009 when his wife, Tony-winning
actress Natasha Richardson, died from head injuries sustained while skiing.
Neeson and Richardson had wed in 1994 and were well into raising their two sons, when
according to ABC News, Richardson fell on a beginner's trail while taking a ski lesson
at a resort in Quebec.
She wasn't wearing a helmet and, reportedly seemed fine and even quote "joked about the
fall," but even so, medics were called to the scene.
Neeson told 60 Minutes in 2014,
"I spoke to her and she said, 'Oh, darling.
I've taken a tumble in the snow.'
That's how she described it."
At the time, Neeson was shooting the film Chloe in Toronto but rushed to her side.
By the time he arrived,
"I was told she was brain dead."
Neeson made the heartbreaking decision to remove life support, but takes small comfort
in the donation of her organs.
"Donated three of her organs so she's keeping three people alive at the moment."
"I think she would be very thrilled and pleased by that, too actually."
Even so, Neeson said he struggles with his grief, describing it as a…
"Profound feeling of instability […] like a three-legged table."
Tragedy strikes again
A decade after the tragic passing of Richardson, Neeson was dealt another staggering blow when
his nephew, Ronan Sexton, passed away from injuries sustained in a 20-foot fall.
The 35-year-old Ronan was reportedly enjoying a night out with friends in 2014, when he
climbed on top of a phone box on Brighton Pier but then lost his balance and fell to
the ground, per The Belfast Telegraph.
Ronan, who is the youngest son of Neeson's sister, Bernadette, was unable to walk or
talk on his own after the fall.
According to the Daily Mail, his mother was putting the finishing touches on a house specially
modified to meet her son's needs, when he died in January 2019.
A source told the publication,
"The family are very private and they are very upset, as you can imagine, it's been
devastating for them."
Sparking major controversy
During a press junket in February 2019 for the revenge film, Cold Pursuit, Neeson kicked
off a major controversy when he confessed to The Independent that he once actively sought
to inflict violence on others after learning one of his close friends was brutally assaulted.
"I had never felt this feeling before, which was a primal urge to lash out."
The incident had reportedly occurred some 40 years before the shocking interview.
"I asked, did she know who it was?
No.
What color were they?
She said it was a black person."
Neeson claimed he was ashamed of his behavior, but that he had gone out with a club, hoping
to get into a fight with any black person, in order to fatally injure them.
The actor's racially charged comments were immediately met with widespread criticism.
He claimed his words were taken out of context, telling Good Morning America that he's not
racist - but also that he had never felt such a strong desire for revenge, at the time.
"It shocked me and it hurt me."
In the wake of the controversy, Lionsgate canceled the red carpet portion of the New
York City premiere of Cold Pursuit.