Liam Neeson says there are still days when he comes home and expects his late wife, Natasha Richardson, to greet him.
“[It] was never real. It still kind of isn’t,” the Schindler’s List actor told Anderson Cooper of her passing. “It hits you. It’s like a wave… You just get this profound feeling of instability. The Earth isn’t stable anymore and then it passes and it becomes more infrequent, but I still get it sometimes.”
The interview, which airs during Sunday’s 60 Minutes, is one of the rare times Liam has publicly spoken about his wife’s passing. The Parent Trap actress hit her head during a ski lesson in Quebec in March 2009. She was initially lucid, but began experiencing headaches and lapsed into a coma.
“I was told she was brain-dead and I’m seeing this x-ray… But, obviously, she was on life-support and stuff,” Liam said. “I just told her I loved her. Said, ‘Sweetie, you’re not coming back from this. You banged your head. I don’t know if you can hear me, but this is what’s gone down. And we’re brining you back to New York. All your family and friends will come. That was more or less it.”
Anderson asked whether Liam thought there was any hope Natasha could recover from the injury.
“She and I made a pact: If any of us go into a vegetative state, we pull the plug. So, when I saw her and saw all these tubes and stuff, that was my immediate thought was ‘Ok, these tubes have to go.'”
Liam, who had two sons with Natasha, said they were able to donate her heart, kidneys and liver. He said it’s “terrific” to know she’s keeping three people alive.
Liam Neeson’s complete interview with Anderson Cooper airs during CBS’ 60 Minutes this Sunday at 7/6c.
