Richard E Grant has revealed that he felt an ‘powerful sense’ that his late wife, Joan Washington, was with him during a concert he attended this week.
Washington died last year at the age of 71 after a battle with lung cancer.
Sharing a video on Twitter, Withnail and I actor Richard explained: ‘I’ve just had the most extraordinary experience.
‘Overwhelming sense that my wife was sitting right next to me, which of course is incredibly reassuring. And yet, she’s completely physically absent. Sweetness and sorrow.’
He added in the caption: ‘Extraordinarily powerful sense that my wife was sitting next to me during this classical concert. Looked left and felt like I’d seen her, yet acutely aware that she is physically absent, forever. Sweetness and sorrow.’
The actor has been sharing updates as he comes to terms with the loss of his wife, who he was married to from 1986 until her death in 2021.
During a recent walk on the beach while on the Gold Coast in Australia, Richard, 64, shared a clip as he looked out at the crashing waves and insisted he’s attempting to ‘find a pocket full of happiness in each day’ – a request from his beloved wife.
Speaking to the camera, Richard said: ‘Feels like a whole new world. navigating solo after 38 years together. Joan so wisely asked me, “find a pocket full of happiness in each day.’
He added, as the sun beamed down on the clip uploaded to his social media: ‘Try my best.’
The actor wrote in the caption: ‘Beautiful as this beach is, I feel and look like an old turtle without my shell, trying to navigate the world on my own, having lost my loving ‘compass’ called Joan,’ along with a series of compass emoji.
Richard and Washington – an esteemed dialect coach – were married for 34 years, with the actor sharing an emotional tribute to mark what would’ve been their 35th wedding anniversary in November.
They tied the knot on November 1, 1986, and in a clip, Richard said that he was focusing on the fact that ‘love goes on’ as he struggles with his loss.
Washington was well-known in the industry as a vocal coach with nearly 40 years’ experience, who had worked with the likes of Anne Hathaway, Emma Stone and Vanessa Redgrave.
She met Richard when she was teaching an accent session at the Actors Centre in Covent Garden in November 1982, where the Loki actor ‘begged her to give me private voice lessons’ as he had recently emigrated from Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) in Southern Africa. Richard recalled her price was £20 per hour, but he could ‘only afford £12’.
He wrote: ‘She fixed me with her big monkey-eyes and said: “All right, but you’ll have to repay me if you ever ‘make it’.”’
The couple went on to welcome a daughter together, Olivia, while Richard is also stepfather to Joan’s son Tom, from her first marriage.
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