Tragic Details About Liam Neeson
Over the course of his long and storied career, Liam Neeson has become one of Hollywood's most beloved stars. But regardless of his fame, fortune, and adoration, the tall, handsome, Oscar-nominated action star has suffered through some serious challenges and tragedies throughout his life — some of which came close to killing him.
Born on June 7, 1952, in the town of Ballymena in Northern Ireland, Neeson lived through the Troubles. This was a 30-year period of sectarian religious violence between Protestants and Catholics. They fought in the streets over the fate of Northern Ireland and left deep emotional and psychic scars in everyone in the area, including Neeson. After his time in college, he began acting in plays and was discovered in 1980, when he was cast in his first major film, "Excalibur." From here, his film career soon took off.
Over the course of his long and evolving career, Neeson has starred in countless beloved roles. But in March 2009, the star lost the love of his life, wife Natasha Richardson. The model and mother of the couple's two children was killed in a freak skiing accident in Montreal, and Neeson's life changed dramatically. Unfortunately, he wasn't unfamiliar with the pain of tragedy.
His Catholic faith made him feel ostracized growing up in Northern Ireland
Liam Neeson was raised Catholic, and as a child in Ballymena, which was predominantly Protestant, he felt isolated and denigrated by the religious pressure and social makeup of his home town. As reported by BBC, he recalled to George magazine that he had to stay locked up in his house when annual July 12 Orange marches would come through town. The parades celebrated the Protestant Prince William of Orange's defeat of Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
The marches were seen as antagonistic toward Catholics in Northern Ireland, and Neeson recalled not understanding why he couldn't go out and watch the parade. When he asked his parents, they simply told him, "You don't need to know." Neeson also spoke to George of the march and its significance for both Catholics and protestants. "The distillation of loss has been deformed and passed from father to son, father to son," he said.
While he stayed largely out of politics during the early days of the Troubles, the infamous Bloody Sunday massacre — in which British soldiers shot and killed 13 unarmed protestors — changed him on a fundamental level. "I never stop thinking about it," Neeson said (via IrishCentral). "I've known guys and girls who have been perpetrators of violence and victims. Protestants and Catholics. It's part of my DNA."
He nearly died after a motorcycle crash and faced a difficult recovery
In July 2000, Liam Neeson's life was nearly cut short in a freak accident. He was out riding his 1989 Harley Davidson motorcycle near his home in southeastern New York when a deer suddenly leapt into the road in front of him. Neeson was thrown from the motorcycle, landed in a nearby embankment, and ended up fracturing his pelvis in multiple places and injuring his legs. Despite the pain, Neeson dragged himself back to the road, where a passing driver saw him and took him to the hospital.
Neeson has reflected on the painful accident several times in the years since, telling GQ in 2014 that he "wasn't supposed to last the night" after being admitted. While in the hospital, Neeson said he found himself craving morphine. He told Sunday Independent's Life magazine that he felt like he was on a "heroin bender" because of how badly he wanted his pain meds, and the crash has impacted his life ever since. "I'm like Herman Munster," he told the outlet (via NDTV.com). "I've got bolts and pins in my pelvis and my knees. I'm lucky if I get two-and-a-half, three hours a night. I just can't, [after] I had the bad motorbike crash in 2000, my whole sleep pattern has changed."
His wife died in a freak accident
Liam Neeson endured likely the greatest tragedy of his life in March 2009 when his wife, Natasha Richardson, died in a horrible skiing accident at the age of 45. She fell down during a lesson and suffered a brain injury that led to a fatal brain hemorrhage two days later. The death was shocking and horrific for Neeson and the family. The couple share two children – Micheál, born in June 1995, and Daniel, born in August 1996. The impact remains to this day.
Neeson opened up about his loss during a 2014 interview with Anderson Cooper for "60 Minutes." "Grief's like — it hits you," the actor said. "It's like a wave. You just get this profound feeling of instability. You feel like a three-legged table. Just suddenly ... the Earth isn't stable anymore. And then it passes and becomes more infrequent, but I still get it sometimes."
However, Neeson has found a way to feel connected to his late wife. Richardson is buried in a church in upstate New York, near her family's home, and the actor still visits her grave to commune, in a way. "I speak to her every day at her grave, which is about a mile and half down the road," Neeson told Inquirer.net in 2020. "I go down there quite often, so I do speak to her as if she's here. Not that she answers me."
After his wife's death, he began drinking more and decided he had to quit
While Liam Neeson says he never truly experienced alcohol addiction, he revealed to People in October 2024 that he gave up drinking altogether in 2013 following the death of wife Natasha Richardson. The actor explained that he never really got "drunk drunk" and described himself as a "jolly drinker." But he came to the realization that he wasn't setting a good example for his young sons on the occasions that he did choose to indulge his taste for wine — and that he found himself drinking significantly more in the years following his wife's tragic death.
"It was just getting to the stage where, [I'd] get on the telephone at 6 o'clock at night, open a bottle of wine, and after an hour the bottle was finished, just open another one," he told the outlet. "It was like, 'Wait a minute ... This isn't a good example for my boys, so I'm just going to quietly stop. Not going to announce it. Just quietly stop.' And I did."
Neeson previously told GQ in 2014 that he found it "so easy" to lose track of how much he was drinking at night. The actor explained that he never drank at work and never had a problem stopping, but knew he needed to change to be a source of strength for his sons.
Liam Neeson was unable to be by his mother's side when she died
On June 6, 2020 — one day before Liam Neeson's 68th birthday, and in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and global lockdowns — his mother, Kitty, died at age 94. She passed away at her nursing home in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. However, due to the shutdowns, Neeson was unable to be by her side when she died or even attend her funeral in person. Instead, Neeson was only able to watch via video on a computer with his sons, Micheál and Daniel, by his side.
"It was strange for ... the three of us to be here looking at my mother's funeral via a computer screen," Neeson told Sunday Life (via The Irish Post) in March 2021. "That was kind of strange — it was kind of surreal." Still, Neeson said he was able to visit his mom at least twice a year in the years before her death, and treasured the time he spent with her.
If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).