Michael Palin opens up on 'unreal' heartbreak after wife's death
02.04.2024 - 09:17
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
Michael Palin, 80, has opened up about his heartache following the death of his wife Helen. Just weeks after celebrating their 57th wedding anniversary and days before his 80th birthday, Michael lost Helen, his childhood sweetheart and "the bedrock of his life".
Almost a year later, the much-loved Monty Python star reveals that he still feels an "unreal" sense of loss and struggles with the "foreverness of it". Despite being cherished by fans, Michael admits to feeling lonely. Speaking about his deep sense of loss, Michael said: "It's not easy. It is an unreal world you enter. Someone you have been with so long and every reference point in your life is connected with that person... and suddenly they are not there, [but] you kind of fool yourself that they are there."
Helen, who was mum to their three children, passed away at the age of 80 on May 2, 2023. She had been suffering from kidney failure and had been battling the condition for many years, undergoing dialysis and living with chronic pain.
Michael reveals that Helen ultimately made the decision with her children and doctors to "give it up", reports the Mirror.
The couple first met when they were just 16 during a family holiday on the Suffolk coast. Michael shared his memories of her as he spoke to the Mirror: "We were both 16, and we married in our early 20s... Helen was the bedrock of my life. Her quietly-wise judgment informed all my decisions and her humour and practical good sense was at the heart of our life together."
Now Michael is trying to cope with the loss, saying: "It is kind of dealing with the foreverness of it," as he talks about how life is for him now.
Helen supported Michael from the start of his career, which kicked off with shows for Oxford Review,