(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Liam Neeson was f**king grateful to be famous when his wife Natasha Richardson was involved in a skiing accident, as it was the only reason he managed to see her before she died.
Natasha passed away following a freak accident in Canada in 2009. She and Liam have two children together, Michel and Daniel, and he has spoken for the first time about how he has dealt with her death.
Liam explained when he was initially informed of her accident he couldnt believe what had happened, and he still remembers the following hours in pain-staking detail.
I walked into the emergency - its like 70, 80 people, broken arms, black eyes, all that - and for the first time in years, nobody recognises me. Not the nurses. The patients. No one. And Ive come all this way, and they wont let me see her. And Im looking past them, starting to push - Im like, F**k, I know my wifes back there someplace, he told the March edition of Esquire magazine.
I pull out a cell phone - and a security guard comes up, starts saying, Sorry, sir, you cant use that in here, and Im about to ask him if he knew me, when he disappears to answer a phone call or something. So I went outside. And I see two nurses, ladies, having a cigarette. I walk up, and luckily one of them recognises me. And Ill tell you, I was so f**king grateful - for the first time in I dont know how long - to be recognised. And this one, she says, Go in that back door there. She points me to it. Make a left. Shes in a room there. So I get there, just in time. And all these young doctors, who look all of 18 years of age, they tell me the worst.
The 58-year-old explained he still feels intense grief at times, which is so severe it virtually paralyses him. In the months following Natashas death he coped by throwing himself back into work, something he acknowledges he is still doing to some extent.
Listen, I know how old I am and that Im just a shoulder injury from losing roles like the one in [action movie] Taken. So I stay with the training, I stay with the work. Its easy enough to plan jobs, to plan a lot of work. Thats effective, he explained. But thats the weird thing about grief. You cant prepare for it. (C) Cover Media