Richard E Grant has opened up about the heartbreaking final moments of his wife, Joan Washington, who passed away in 2021 after a battle with stage four lung cancer.
The Withnail & I actor, 67, reflected on his grief and shared Joan’s final wish before she died in a candid conversation with Davina McCall on her Begin Again podcast.
Joan’s final words
Richard, who was married to Joan for 35 years, revealed that two weeks before her passing, she made an emotional request.
He shared: “Two weeks before she died, she said, ‘I know the end is very near now, please let me go,’ and my daughter and I said unequivocally, ‘Absolutely, yes, of course, you have our blessing.'”
The actor described the intimate moment of holding Joan’s hand as she passed away at their home.
“On the day that she died, I was sitting, talking to her all day… holding her hand, and then I felt that at about ten past seven her hand was starting to get colder and thought, ‘This must be the end.’ And then at seven thirty, twenty minutes later, she died.”
He added: “A conversation that began in bed in January 1983 then stopped 38 years later on the 2nd of September 2021, still talking and still holding each other’s hands.
“To have had that with one human being and to be completely seen by someone else—I think it’s the greatest gift that you can have. The greatest intimacy.”
Grieving the loss
© GettyRichard has spoken openly about his grief and how he is adjusting to life without Joan. The couple, who married in 1986, share a daughter, Olivia, 35, who works as a casting director.
The Saltburn actor admitted that friends have tried to set him up on blind dates, but he isn’t looking to meet anyone new. “I’m certainly not internet dating,” he said.
He also confessed that he has yet to scatter Joan’s ashes, despite her wish to be buried under a cherry tree. “I haven’t been able to do it,” he admitted.
Keeping her memory alive
© GettySince Joan’s passing, Richard has found comfort in writing her emails as a way to process his grief and maintain their connection.
In 2022, he published a memoir, A Pocket Full of Happiness, which was based on the diary he kept during Joan’s final months. The book’s title was inspired by her advice to “find a pocket full of happiness in each day.”
Speaking about the book, he previously said: “It’s my love letter to Joan. She made my life infinitely richer, and I wanted to honour her.”
Richard’s full interview with Davina McCall is available on Begin Again: The Podcast.
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