A Look Back at Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson’s Relationship

The ‘Taken’ star and ‘The Parent Trap’ actress’ 16-year love story was tragically cut short by Richardson’s sudden death in 2009

Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson attend the 33rd Annual American Ireland Fund Gala on May 08, 2008 in New York City. PHOTO: SHAWN EHLERS/WIREIMAGE

Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson’s romance first sparked onstage in 1993.

Richardson admitted to falling “very much in love” with the Taken actor while they starred opposite each other on Broadway, despite being married to producer Robert Fox at the time. She and Fox split soon after the play ended.

Richardson and Neeson married the following year and welcomed two sons together over the next two years.

In 2009, The Parent Trap star tragically died at age 45 from a severe brain injury as a result of a skiing accident. Neeson has rarely spoken out about her death and has kept his own love life almost entirely out of the public eye in the years since.

From their marriage to their family and work collaborations, here is a look back at Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson’s relationship.

1992: Natasha Richardson asks Liam Neeson to star opposite her on Broadway

Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson. RON GALELLA, LTD./RON GALELLA COLLECTION VIA GETTY

The future couple reportedly first struck up communication when Richardson sought Neeson out to play the Irish sailor with whom her titular character has a liaison in the Broadway revival of Anna Christie, a play she’d starred in while in London two years prior and worked to bring to New York.

​”I think [playwright Eugene] O’Neill wrote that part for Liam Neeson,” she told the Los Angeles Times, which noted that he had been her “first choice” for the role. The play’s first preview was on Dec. 23, 1992.

January 14, 1993: Anna Christie opens, starring Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson

Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson at the Golden Globes. FRANK TRAPPER/CORBIS VIA GETTY

The play opened to rave reviews on Jan. 14, 1994, at the Criterion Center in New York City.

It was quickly extended until Feb. 28, with The New York Times praising Richardson for “what may prove to be the performance of the season.” The outlet also remarked on the “sensitive partnering she receives” from Neeson.

While sparks were flying onstage, Natasha, then 29, was married to British producer Robert Fox at the time. Neeson, then 40, had had high-profile romances, including a four-year relationship with Helen Mirren and a proposal to Brooke Shields just a few months before meeting Richardson.

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The Star Wars actor later reflected on the pair’s initial chemistry, saying that acting together in the play was like a “wonderful kind of dance.” 

In February 2014, he explained to Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes, “I’d never had that kind of an explosive chemistry situation with an actor, or actress.”

April 1993: Natasha Richardson divorces Robert Fox

Roughly one month after closing night, the Cabaret star split from Fox after four years of marriage, PEOPLE reported.

Richardson later opened up to the New York Daily News about falling for Neeson while her “marriage [was] falling apart,” calling it “bad timing.”

“Working with him, what happened between us, and that becoming public knowledge in conjunction with my marriage falling apart, was kind of bad timing,” the Maid in Manhattan star said in an interview that was released after her death in March 2009.

“So what can I say? Obviously I fell very much in love with him,” she added.

May 11, 1993: Liam Neeson celebrates Natasha Richardson’s 30th birthday

Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson stand together. RON GALELLA, LTD./RON GALELLA COLLECTION VIA GETTY

The pair’s budding romance blossomed while Neeson was filming Schindler’s List in Poland following the play’s run, a role which would earn him his first Oscar nomination.

The actor reportedly sent Richardson a card for her 30th birthday, which read, “You’re catching up with me,” according to the New York Daily News. He signed it in character, writing, “Lots of love, Oskar.”

In response, Richardson reportedly replied that the note seemed too platonic and asked what the pair’s relationship status was.

“That was when I knew I really loved this person. I thought, ‘This is real and genuine and is something that has to be protected,’ ” Neeson said, according to the newspaper.

June 6, 1993: Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson make their red carpet debut at the Tony Awards

A few months after the play’s end, the pair walked their first red carpet hand-in-hand at the 1993 Tony Awards. They were each up for best lead actor and actress for their performances in Anna Christie.

1994: Natasha Richardson tells Liam Neeson she won’t marry him if he plays James Bond

Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson pose for a picture. ERIC ROBERT/SYGMA/SYGMA VIA GETTY

The action star revealed during a June 2021 appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden that shortly following his leading role in Schindler’s List, he was approached about potentially taking on the iconic 007 character (which ultimately went to Pierce Brosnan).

Richardson, his then-fiancée, was quick to tell him that the potential work could impact their lives.

“I know they were looking at various actors and I apparently was among them. However, my dear, departed wife did say to me … ‘Darling, if you’re offered James Bond and you’re going to play it, you’re not going to marry me,’ ” Neeson told host James Corden.

Neeson found that “understandable,” previously explaining to Men’s Journal that her worries presumably included “women. Foreign countries. Halle Berry.” He added, “It’s no big deal. It’s nice to be inquired after.”

July 3, 1994: Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson wed at their home in upstate New York

Liam Neelson and Natasha Richardson share a kiss at the Tony Awards. ROBIN PLATZER/GETTY

Roughly one year into their romance, they said “I do” in an intimate backyard ceremony at their shared farmhouse in Millbrook, New York.

The bride wore Donna Karan, according to PEOPLE, and the roughly 70 A-list guests included Emma Thompson, Steven Spielberg, Mia Farrow, among others.

Richardson surprised Neeson at the ceremony by serenading him with Van Morrison’s “Crazy Love,” he later revealed during a SiriusXM Radio Andy interview in January 2016.

“Behind my back, Natasha had been taking singing lessons to sing it to me,” he said during My Favorite Song. “After the ceremony, we were all going out to start the night’s festivities, and she grabbed the microphone and she sang me this. She had learned it, and I was like, ‘Wow!’ “

December 16, 1994: Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson star in their first movie together

The newlyweds starred opposite each other on the big screen for the first time in 1994’s Nell.

According to the New York Daily News, Richardson sought out the part of Paula Olsen after Neeson was cast, hoping to avoid a lengthy separation while filming in North Carolina.

“It was difficult to kind of go, ‘Bye, honey! Have fun with the other girls!’ ” she said. “I thought I would do anything to play this part.”

June 22, 1995: Liam Neeson and Natasha Richarson welcome their first child together

Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson attend the 54th Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California on January 19, 1997. VINNIE ZUFFANTE/MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY

The couple expanded their family soon after getting married, welcoming their first child, a son named Michéal, on June 22, 1995.

Michéal went on to follow in his parents’ footsteps, pursuing a career as an actor and eventually changing his last name from Neeson to Richardson to honor his late mom.

August 27, 1996: Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson welcome their second son

Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson during Film Society of Lincoln Center Honors Clint Eastwood on May 6, 1996 in New York City. RON GALELLA/RON GALELLA COLLECTION VIA GETTY

Just over one year later, the new parents welcomed another son, Daniel, on Aug. 27, 1996.

“This was a bit unexpected,” Richardson told The Buffalo News at the time of her back-to-back pregnancies. “We wanted more children, just not so close together. I mean, I had just gotten my body and my professional life back in shape when this happened.”

She told the outlet that she admittedly “felt a bit conflicted at first.”

Richardson continued, “As a woman and a mother, I thought, ‘Great!’ As an actress, I screamed, ‘Help!’ Of course, now I’m just reveling in it. And I love the idea that the children will be so close in age.”

June 2, 2002: Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson present at the Tony Awards together

Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson at the 56th annual Tony Awards. RON GALELLA/RON GALELLA COLLECTION VIA GETTY

Richardson and Neeson strutted onstage holding hands at the 56th annual Tony Awards, where they presented the award for best leading actress together at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall.

March 16, 2009: Natasha Richardson suffers a brain injury after a ski accident

Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson attend The Cinema Society presents a screening of Seraphim Falls at Tribeca Grand Hotel Screening Room on January 23, 2007 in New York City. BILLY FARRELL/PATRICK MCMULLAN VIA GETTY

The Tony Award winner was skiing on a beginner’s slope with an instructor at Quebec’s Mont Tremblant when she fell and hit her head. The actress reportedly wasn’t wearing a helmet, per NBC News.

Her injury seemed minor at first, with the actress reportedly refusing to be taken to the hospital at least twice. Ultimately, her symptoms worsened, and she was evacuated to a hospital in Montreal, where Neeson flew to meet her from the Toronto movie set he was working on.

Neeson described their final phone call to Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes five years after her death.

“I spoke to her, and she said, ‘Oh darling. I’ve taken a tumble in the snow.’ That’s how she described it,” the actor recalled.

When Neeson arrived, the doctor informed him that Richardson was “brain dead” and showed him an X-ray of her injury, which the actor said depicted her brain “squashed up against the side of the skull.”

He went in to say his final goodbye, explaining, “She was on life support … and [I] told her I loved her. Said, ‘Sweetie, you’re not coming back from this. You’ve banged your head. … And we’re bringing you back to New York. All your family and friends will come.’ “

Speaking to Cooper, Neeson noted that he and Richardson had “made a pact” that if “any of us got into a vegetative state that we’d pull the plug.”

According to ABC News, she was transferred from a Canadian hospital to New York City’s Lenox Hill Hospital, where her loved ones said goodbye.

The actor also told Cooper that Richardson was an organ donor and ultimately donated her heart, kidneys and liver, which he feels “she would be very thrilled and pleased by.”

March 18, 2009: Natasha Richardson’s death is confirmed

Richardson was then flown back to upstate New York to be buried near their home, where family and friends paid their respects.

Her family released a statement two days after her fatal fall, which they confirmed resulted in her death at age 45 due to an epidural hematoma.

“Liam Neeson, his sons, and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha,” it read. “They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time.”

February 23, 2014: Liam Neeson speaks out about Natasha Richardson’s death for the first time

Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson arriving at the “Road To Perdition” film premiere at The Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on July 9, 2002. EVAN AGOSTINI/IMAGEDIRECT

Speaking to Cooper on 60 Minutes from the farmhouse upstate that he and Richardson shared, Neeson opened up about his wife’s death and his grief for the first time.

The actor admitted that her being gone never felt real to him. “It still kind of isn’t,” he said, adding that during the first few years after her death, he anticipated hearing her walk through the front door like she used to.

“Grief’s like — it hits you. It’s like a wave,” Neeson continued. “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.”

Neeson threw himself into his work after Richardson’s death in order to cope with the grief and to be there for their sons, he told Cooper.

“I’m not good without work,” he said, who went on to star in nearly 40 films in the decade following her death. “I just don’t – I just don’t wallow too much. … And I just didn’t want to — especially for my boys — seem to be wallowing in sadness or depression.”

He added that having a schedule “helps a great deal.”

Liam Neeson’s 2 Sons: All About Micheál Richardson and Daniel Neeson

March 31, 2017: Liam Neeson reflects on losing Natasha Richardson

Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson during The Costume Institute’s Gala Celebrating “Chanel” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. GREGORY PACE/FILMMAGIC

Neeson reunited with the cast of Love, Actually for a Red Nose Day special in 2017. In the 2003 film, he plays a widower who is raising a young son alone — a tragedy quite similar to the path his own life took six years later when Richardson died.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about revisiting the role on-screen, he said, ​​”It’s 14 years ago now and we’ve all lived lives. Some of us have died. … Some have gotten divorced. I’ve lost my wife.”

He added, “And, oh, sure, plenty of times I’ve thought about this film and my own life. Love Actually, that’s the way it is. That’s the tapestry of life.”

July 24, 2020: Liam Neeson says he speaks to Natasha Richardson daily

During an interview with the Inquirer.net in July 2020, Neeson opened up about how Richardson is still present in his life.

“I speak to her every day at her grave which is about a mile and a half down the road,” he told the outlet. “I go down there quite often, so I do speak to her as if she’s here. Not that she answers me.”