Helen McCrory dies aged 52 from cancer
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Hollywood actor Damian Lewis has told of a touching message he was given by his late wife, Helen McCrory. The actress tragically died on Friday, aged 52, following a secret battle with cancer.
You must all love again, love isn’t possessive
Helen McCrory
Damian, 50, took to social media late on Friday afternoon, informing their fans that Helen had been “surrounded by a wave of love from friends and family” in the days leading up to her death.
Despite fighting cancer, Helen remained active with charity and philanthropy work for The Prince’s Trust, for whom she was an ambassador.
Nicknamed “Dame Helen” by friends, fans and relatives, the Peaky Blinders actress informed her husband and their two children, daughter Manon, 14, and son, Gulliver ‘Gully’, 13, that she wanted them to find happiness again.
The Once Upon A Time In Hollywood actor said his wife has encouraged him to have “girlfriends, lot’s of them,” following her death.
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“Only a couple of weeks ago she said to us from her bed, ‘I want Daddy to have girlfriends, lots of them, you must all love again, love isn’t possessive, but you know, Damian, try at least to get through the funeral without snogging someone’,” Damian wrote in The Sunday Times.
Recalling the weeks before her death, he praises Helen for putting others before herself, thanking those caring for her as they comforted her.
Describing his wife as “funny as hell” Damian noted that staff at the Royal Marsden Hospital had looked forward to seeing Helen each week, adding that Helen would ask them how they were and spoke about their lives away from work.
“Helen would say, ‘Well, their job’s much more difficult than mine,’ and she was dying,” he wrote.
He painfully went on to add that while his wife had taught their beloved children to not be afraid of what life may throw at them, instead, leaving them with her “fearlessness, wit, curiosity, talent and beauty,” she also told them: “Don’t be sad, because even though I’m about to snuff it, I’ve lived the life I wanted to.”
The London born actress had made the decision to keep her diagnosis private in order to continue her work out of the spotlight.
Friend Carrie Cracknell, who directed Helen in the theatre production of Medea told BBC Today’s programme that she had been “sworn to secrecy”.
“Helen wanted to be very private about her illness and I understand why,” she said.
She went on to add: “Very, very few people knew, and I only did because we were planning to transfer a show to Broadway and we had to cancel that because she was undergoing treatment, we were sworn to secrecy.”
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Just last month, Helen appeared on Good Morning Britain to discuss her work with The Prince’s Trust.
While discussing her recent work, GMB’s co-anchor Kate Garraway asked: “Are you alright, Helen?” partway through the interview.
She went on to add: “You sound a bit croaky, have you got a sore throat?”
After Helen’s face quickly changed to a more sombre expression, she went on to reply with a grin on her face: “No, I’ve got children!
“And no makeup artist and no hairdresser, so if there’s any young person out there that would like a bit of help, phone up [The] Prince’s Trust and then come straight over here!”
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