What Happened To Natasha Richardson? Inside The Tragic Death Of Liam Neeson’s Wife

Understandably, Liam Neeson was gutted at the sudden loss of his wife Natasha Richardson, and he’s only spoken about it a handful of times — most notably during an interview with Anderson Cooper (when the anchor was with CBS News) in 2014. Neeson told Cooper that he was able to deliver some last words to his beloved partner, even though she was unconscious at the time.

«And I went in to her and told her I loved her,» Neeson recalled. «Said, ‘Sweetie, you’re not coming back from this. You’ve banged your head. It’s — I don’t know if you can hear me, but that’s — this is what’s gone down. And we’re bringing you back to New York. All your family and friends will come.’ And that was more or less it. You know?»

Neeson then told Cooper that he and Richardson made a pact years before her accident that if either one of them suffered brain death, the survivor would elect to end care and let the injured one go. The «Taken» actor even said that when he saw all of the machines surrounding Richardson in the hospital, he knew that it was the end. Neeson was proud to tell Cooper, though, that Richardson’s heart, kidneys, and liver were donated to patients in need, fondly saying, «So she’s keeping three people alive at the moment.»

Asked how Richardson would feel about Neeson’s second act as a major action star — and the financial success that came along with that — he simply said, «She’d be very — she’d be very — chuffed at that. She would — yeah, she would.»