The other morning, I caught the last twenty minutes of Natasha Richardson’s E! True Hollywood Story, and I have to admit that I was sitting there sobbing as I ate my breakfast. E! had compiled the footage of Natasha’s memorials, showing Liam and his sons, with the Richardson/Redgrave family, paying their respects to Natasha’s life and career privately (at the cemetery where she was buried) and publicly (as the Broadway lights went dark to honor her). It was all extremely moving.
Since then, Liam has been taking the first steps back into public life and work. He’s signed on for several films, including The A-Team (with Bradley Cooper) and Clash of the Titans, with his dear friend Ralph Fiennes. Liam even vacationed with his sons and Ralph at the same St.Tropez beach where he and Natasha went every year. Though Liam seems to be sleep-walking, zombie-like, through these past few months, he does seem to be keeping it together.
Last night, Liam walked his first red carpet since Natasha’s death. It was to promote his film, Five Minutes of Heaven, in which “Liam Neeson [stars] as Alistair Little and James Nesbitt as Joe Griffen. The story is about how a young wannabe hero of the Ulster Volunteer Force {Little} gunned down the brother of Joe Griffen {Nesbitt}, purely because he was of Catholic religion, all witnessed by young soccer ball kicking Joe out on the pavement in front of the Griffen house. After the build up and execution of the crime, we forward to the future after Little has served 12 years prison for the murder, and here we now have a television company led meeting between the two after the Good Friday Peace Agreement.” Publicists at the event told reporters not to ask Liam any “personal” questions:
Actor Liam Neeson has walked the red carpet for the first time since his wife, actress Natasha Richardson, died in a freak skiing accident last March.
Neeson appeared at the Tribeca Grand Hotel in New York on Tuesday night to promote his new film Five Minutes Of Heaven.
Publicists at the event told members of the media not to ask Neeson any personal questions. At one point, the Schindler’s List star — who had two children with Richardson — was asked what his version of heaven would be. The 57-year-old says it’s being with his boys and he’s “kind of living it at the moment.”
In Five Minutes of Heaven, Neeson plays a former member of an outlawed Northern Ireland paramilitary group who’s haunted by memories of murder.
The movie opens in select U.S. theaters on August 21. Richardson was 45 at the time of her death.
[From Radar Online]
It actually sounds like an interesting movie. Even though I want to respect Liam’s privacy and his grief, I also want to give him a little promotion for this film. So I’m still going to analyze how I think he’s doing, judging from these photos. Does this make me a bad person? I think he looks nice, but tired. Like he’s not sleeping. But he doesn’t seem to have lost weight, so it seems like he’s eating. Beyond that, I love the dove-grey suit. It’s lovely. Here’s hoping Liam is doing well!
Liam Neeson is shown with Oliver Hirschbiegel at the premiere of Five Minutes of Heaven at the Tribecca Grand Hotel on 8/11/09. Credit: WENN.com
Good to see him trying to carry on. Terribly tragic to lose someone you love.
He appears to me to be in a state of deep sadness. Natasha seemed to be the one who planned the family events, keeping them united and close.
He looks…beaten. Maybe his weight gain is because food is his best friend now.
I hope everything goes well with him, he’s a great actor.
Poor fellow. I guess work would be the best way to cope, not that I’m an expert on coping with the loss of a spouse/life partner.
I think no one can understand how hard it must be for him to be in the public eye while he is still presumably grieving. It is only natural if he doesn’t look sparkly or his best, I actually think he does look to have lost weight. He is now a single parent to two boys, it must be a struggle holding it together for them. I’ve always admired him and part of the sadness of Natasha’s death was that they seemed like such a good pair of people who found a soul mate in each other. I wish him and his family the best.
He does look tired, God love him. And lonely. But to be fair, the “Big Fella” hasn’t gained weight. I actually think he’s lost a little. I don’t know if he’s going to get to do much promotion given that it’s on a fairly limited release and considering the subject.
I’ll definitely go to see it as the film does sound intriguing and topical, as the last two prisoners (aka murderin’ scumbags hiding behind their Provo connections) to be released by the Good Friday Agreement were let out of prison this week.
And Jimmy Nesbitt did give one of his best performances in “Bloody Sunday”, so he should be good in this. I’m not familiar with the rest of the cast, apart from Niamh Cusack, a member of a strong acting dynasty and sister-in-law to Jeremy Irons.
mairead – i also think he looks a bit thinner, poor guy. hopefully he & the family are healing and getting their lives back in order. looking forward to seeing him in upcoming movies.
He does look tired. But he’s still quite handsome.
God bless him
I find it interesting how quickly or how long it takes people to remove their wedding rings after their spouses die. I don’t know if Neeson wore his constantly, but I do know that I did see him on the red carpet with it on. Now it is not. I wonder what motivates people to remove it? No judgement here, just curiosity.
Jeez, he looks like a slightly healthier version of Shane McGowan.
Tired is a good word, beaten would take it too far. I am amazed he managed to do this red carpet thing. That is one hell of a thing to do. It’s different than sitting through promotion interviews (alright after the 10th, it gets stressful as well, I suppose). Anyways, biggest kudos to him for having the strengths and all my best to him and his family.
Grieving is a personal process. For some people, the items that symbolize the lost person become vitally important. For other people, those same items simply bring on crushing pain. Some people cry a lot while they grieve. Other people process sadness without a lot of tears in meditation, prayer, or quiet thought.
There is no one healthy way to grieve, and every person is different. If he removed his ring, it could be that, rather than comfort, all it gave him was pain. For others, keeping that ring on might have brought a sense of safety or grounding (my dead spouse was REAL) sort of thing.
It’s all very personal.
And that is why (and I don’t mean you, Canadiana 🙂 ) it is never EVER okay to judge the way someone grieves. If someone cries more or less than you would have in a similar situation…or if someone throws out pictures you would’ve wanted to keep…or whatever…
just know that sadness and loss are personal.
I feel horrible about the comment I made, and I’m surprised no one flamed me for it. It’s understandable that he looks like shit. Hell, I’d look *worse* than Shane McGowan if my partner died.
Good point and well said Aspen.
I wish him and his family the best, and be able to find peace again.
If you look back at pictures, Liam never seemed to consistently wear his wedding ring. I don’t think it really means anything that he isn’t wearing it now..