The Story of Liam Neeson, Who Suddenly Became a Widower and Raised 2 Sons on His Own
The fearless Bryan Mills in Taken, Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars, and Oscar in Schindler’s List — all of these roles were portrayed by the amazing Liam Neeson. But in real life, the actor is more like his character in Love Actually. Like Daniel, he became a single dad.
CHEERY is going to tell you about how Liam Neeson dealt with life’s challenges. The stories of his movie characters are not even close.
Love actually.
Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson met when they were working on the play Anna Christie (1993). The actors were great together on the set and beyond it. Neeson remembers, “I’d never had that kind of an explosive chemistry situation with an actor, or actress. She and I were like Astaire and Rogers.” By the way, the play was a success, and both Liam and Natasha were nominated for the Tony Award.
When they met, Natasha was married, but her marriage was on the verge of divorce. When Richardson got divorced, Neeson sent her a card as a joke from the set of Schindler’s List, “You’re catching up with me. Lots of love, Oskar”. The actress didn’t find it romantic and in her response letter, she asked him to be straight with her about their relationship. It worked, and they got married in 1994.
They had children very soon. In 1995, they had their first son, Michael, and 1 year later, they had Daniel. In an interview, Neeson said that being a father is a source of never-ending joy, “It’s an ongoing joy being a dad. It’s always a joy, but it’s a joyful worry. No matter what age they are, they’re still going to be your little boy or your little girl. And you are a hostage to love”.
They had a happy marriage. Both of them had successful careers and devoted enough time to their family. They were together for 16 years, and Neeson remembers every year with warmth, “She brought me so much joy. She was my everything. Those 16 years of being her husband taught me how to love unconditionally.” But this story was going to end.
Tragedy.
The worst happened in 2009. Natasha Richardson died at the age of 45 after a bad fall while she was skiing in Quebec. Several hours after the injury, Liam, who was on the movie set, arrived at the hospital, but the doctors had terrible news for him — Natasha was brain dead.
“She and I had made a pact. If any of us got into a vegetative state, that we’d pull the plug. So when I saw her and saw all these tubes and stuff, that was my immediate thought. But [she] donated three of her organs, so she’s keeping three people alive at the moment,” Neeson told later.
Single dad.
Natasha’s untimely death was a blow for all the family members. Richardson was the heart of this home and its soul, “There’s periods now when I hear the door opening, especially the first couple of years, anytime I hear that door opening, I still think I’m going to hear her.” Neeson was not the only one grieving. Relatives, friends, and teenage sons, were dealing with the loss.
The mother’s death was especially hard for the kids. The oldest one even had to spend a month in a therapy camp. Fortunately, he was surrounded by wise friends and relatives. Michael says that Bono from U2 supported their family in grief, and his grandmother Vanessa Redgrave was taking an active part in raising the grandkids and helping Neeson.
Neeson didn’t choose to become a single dad, but he is very good at it, “My boys are teenagers. They’re experimenting. They’re flexing muscles and sometimes dangerous avenues, and you think If Tasha was here, someone could share this. But yeah, we’re doing all right, you know?”
Liam is happy with how he raised the boys. He thinks that the most important lessons he’s taught his sons are manners. Neeson says that adults often praise him for how respectful Michael and Daniel are of other people. And it’s what their mother would want.
Today, the sons are adults. Michael has his mother’s last name, he’s Richardson now. His grandmother told why he made this decision, “That wasn’t because he wanted to avoid his father’s fame, which is enormous. He wanted to hold his mother close to him.”
Michael Richardson started his career as an apprentice. He was an intern of a tailor on Savile Row, London, and this experience was so inspiring that in 2015, he opened his own fashion gallery, Maison Mais Non.
The youngest son, Daniel, studied acting in college, but never became an actor. Instead, he uses his acting abilities to promote his ideas. Daniel has his own clothing brand. The idea of the company is that it’s mindful of the environment. It doesn’t have any negative impact on nature.
Daniel is happy he is not an actor. And he’s sure that his mom would support his decision, “She was always about ‘don’t ever feel like you have to be forced down a tunnel to fit in. Do what you want to do, but do it to your best and be generous with it.’”
But the acting talent of the family is used. The oldest son, Michael, gave in and continued the tradition and tried himself in cinema. Together with Liam, he was in Made in Italy, where they portrayed a father and son grieving about the mother of the family. Neeson told, “There are certain emotional scenes that we have to be able to access, and I knew we’d be able to do that with ease because it was so close to us.”
Do you know any single dads? How do they handle raising children alone?