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Richard E Grant remembers ‘extraordinary’ late wife Joan Washington with touching message on 36th wedding anniversary-Rachael O'Connor-Entertainment – Metro
The devoted husband lost his wife in September last year.
Richard E Grant has remembered his ‘extraordinary’ late wife Joan Washington as he marks their 36th wedding anniversary (Picture: Getty / Twitter)
Richard E Grant has reflected on the ‘ongoing gift’ his late wife has given him as he marks their 36th wedding anniversary.
The actor was married to voice coach Joan Washington for 34 years when she died in September of last year at the age of 71.
Having been diagnosed with lung cancer just eight months earlier, the devoted couple spent their last few months making memories together, with some of these revealed in Grant’s new memoir.
Now marking their anniversary for the second time since her death, Grant has shared a gorgeous collage of the pair from over the years, with some thoughtful words to go along with it.
Taking to Instagram on Tuesday, he wrote: ‘We were married on the 1st of November 1986. Today is our posthumous 36th anniversary.’
He went on: ‘To have been truly seen and loved by this extraordinary Human Being, is her ongoing gift to me.’
The devoted couple would have been married 36 years today (Picture: Shutterstock)
Joan was a revered voice coach who worked with some of the biggest names in the business (Picture: Getty Images)
The actor shared a total of eight photographs of he and Washington over the years, from holidays abroad to church events and everyday selfies at home, both boasting massive smiles in each one.
Friends of the pair have sent their support to Grant on the difficult anniversary, with Gentleman Jack actor Michael D Xavier writing: ‘To find this kind of long-lasting, deep-rooted love is truly rare and utterly magical.
‘Sending loads of love to you on this day, Richard.’
Shetland actress Julie Graham said the collage was ‘beautiful,’ adding: ‘ How lucky you both were. But a tough day, sending you huge hugs.’
Marvel star James Darcy told the actor he was ‘sending light and love,’ while the likes of John Simm and photographer Charlie Gray also shared their support.
In September, Grant shared an exerpt from his then-unreleased memoir A Pocketful of Happiness, in which he recalled the last words he ever said to his wife.
He wrote how, on the morning of September 2, Washington did not wake properly, and he was warned by doctors that she may die that day.
Grant revealed his final words to Washington later that evening, as he encouraged her to let go: ‘At 7pm, her breathing slows quite suddenly. Keep repeating: “It’s all okay, my angel. Don’t hold on. We all love you so. So, so much.”
He said, in an extract obtained by Daily Mail: ‘Feels like my heart is going to explode out of my chest, such is the intensity of this grief.’
‘Even though we had warning that this was imminent,‘NOTHING can properly prepare us for this moment.’
The couple share daughter Olivia, 32, who Richard remembers shouting for at the moment of Joan’s death in his memoir (Picture: AFP)
The actor says he has been given an ‘ongoing gift’ from his wife (Picture: AFP)
The actor, who described his new memoir as the ‘love story of my life’, married Washington were married 36 years ago today and welcomed Olivia, now 32.
Washington also had a son, Tom, from a previous relationship.
The voice coach, from Aberdeen, trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and had nearly 40 years’ experience in the film industry as a voice and dialect coach, working with stars including Anne Hathaway, Vanessa Redgrave and Emma Stone.
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Among her early projects in the mid-1980s were Yentl, starring Barbra Streisand, Highlander, and The Bounty, featuring Mel Gibson and Sir Anthony Hopkins.
More recently, she worked on features such as The Witches, where she coached Hathaway for the part of the Grand High Witch, and Yorgos Lanthimos’s black comedy The Favourite, where she worked with Stone.
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