Liam Neeson, Stanley Tucci, Michelle Williams: Celebrities who tragically lost their partners

Actors John Travolta and Kelly Preston got married in 1991, and they remained together for 30 years before the actress died in July 2020, after a 2-year battle against breast cancer. 

Just nine months after his wife had passed away, John Travolta opened up about his journey with grief in an interview with Esquire Spain. He explained:

'The most important thing you can do to help another when they are in mourning is to allow them to live it and not complicate it with yours. That's my experience.'

He is rumoured to be dating actress Kristin Davis, but neither of them have confirmed anything so far. 

TV star Debbie McGee and magician Paul Daniels got married in 1988. The couple remained together until 2016, when he died only five weeks after being diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour.

Eight years after her husband's death, Debbie McGee told the Express she was not actively looking for love again, but she is not closed off to the idea. She explained:

‘I am not looking for love, I am just enjoying myself. But if it came along, of course I would fall in love. Nobody has control over who they fall for. But for now, that has not happened, and I am content.’

Icon Céline Dion married her manager, René Angelil, in 1994. They had three sons together before he died of throat cancer in 2016. In 2018, she told The Project:

'The only thing I hoped while he was in three years of agony, I wanted him to leave in peace. I wanted him to feel so light and no worries. He had a little heart attack, it's so quick, he didn't even feel anything. I thought that he was like liberated from his pain.'

Nearly a decade after her husband's passing, Céline Dion told People that she does not want to fall in love again, as she still feels like René Angelil's wife. She explained:

'I'm still married to René. He's still my husband. When we have to travel to my treatments to see my doctors, I always bring pictures. And we have pictures, of course, all over the place in the house.'

Actors Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger dated for three years, and had a daughter together, before they split up in 2007. Sadly, Heath Ledger died a year later from cardiac arrest, aged 28. Speaking to ABC, she said:

‘In a strange way, I miss that year, because all those possibilities that existed then are gone. […] It was a year of very magical thinking, and in some ways I’m sad to be moving further and further away from it.’

Since her daughter's father passed away, Michelle Williams has been married twice. In 2020, she married Thomas Kail, and the couple welcomed two children together.

TV stars Jade Goody and Jeff Brazier dated for several years, and they had two sons together: Bobby and Freddy. Jade tragically died of cervical cancer on Mother's Day 2009. 

Despite being separated at the time of her death, Jeff Brazier struggled with the grief of his sons' mother. He told Mad World:

'We think that by not crying we're protecting other people but when you cry you give everyone around you permission to cry.'

Jeff Brazier started dating public relations expert Kate Dwyer in 2013, and the couple tied the knot in 2018, raising his two sons together. 

Actors Lea Michele and Cory Monteith met on the set of Glee in 2008, and they had been dating for a year when he tragically died of an overdose. She told Ellen DeGeneres:

'I'm just trying to do my best for him because I know that that's what he would have wanted and to just do my best and to you know, hopefully make something positive for where I go in the rest of my life.'

Lea Michele married businessman Zandy Reich in 2019. The couple welcomed a baby boy in 2020, named Ever Leo, and the actress gave birth to a little girl in August 2024, named Emery Sol. 

Actors Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson were married for fifteen years before the actress died in a tragic skiing accident in 2009. In 2014, he told 60 Minutes:

‘It hits you. It’s like a wave. You just get this profound feeling of instability. The Earth isn’t stable anymore and then it passes and it becomes more infrequent, but I still get it sometimes.’

The actor dated public relations executive Freya St. Johnston from 2010 to 2012. Liam Neeson has remained extremely discreet about his love life since his wife's accidental death.

English footballer Rio Ferdinand and Rebecca Ellison met in the late 90s, and they got married in 2009. The couple had three children together, before Rebecca sadly died of breast cancer in 2015. He released a BBC documentary two years later, entitled Rio Ferdinand: Being Mum and Dad, in which he opened up about his grief, and his role as a single parent.

Following his first wife's passing, Rio Ferdinand started dating reality TV star Kate Wright. The couple took their time to become a new family, raising his three children together. They got married in 2019.

Actors Pierce Brosnan and Cassandra Harris got married in 1980, and they welcomed three children together, before her death from ovarian cancer in 1991. The actor paid tribute to his wife, saying:

‘She has made me the man I am, the actor I am, the father I am.’

Pierce Brosnan started dating journalist Keely Shaye Smith in 1994, and the couple tied the knot in 2001. He told Fox News in 2023:

‘Watching someone grow up with you and grow old with you is a very spiritual journey. To watch each other change … whatever it may be, the hair, the waist. But it’s the love in the heart.’

Stanley Tucci and Kate Spath got married in 1995, and they welcomed three children together, before Kate's untimely death from breast cancer in 2009, at the age of 47, after a long battle with the illness. He told CBS News Morning in 2021:

‘There’s all the blaming of yourself, which you can’t do, but you kind of do. I’m mostly sad.’

A few years after Kate's death, Stanley Tucci met Felicity Blunt at her sister Emily Blunt's wedding to John Krasinski. The pair hit it off immediately, and they got married in 2012. The couple welcomed two more children together, as well as raising the actor's three kids. 

Actor and comedian Patton Oswalt married journalist and writer Michelle McNamara in 2005, and the couple welcomed a daughter, Alice, in 2009. Sadly, Michelle McNamara suddenly died in her sleep in 2016, from an accidental drug overdose. In 2017, he said:

‘It was the second worst day of my life. The worst day of my life was the day after when I had to tell our daughter.’

Patton Oswalt met Meredith Salenger eighteen months after his wife's passing. They had mutual friends and started talking on Facebook. The actor explained:

‘It just felt like worlds were connecting and everything was okay again. We’re still floating on this other level that we’ve been on since the day we met.’

Joe Biden married his first wife, Neilia Hunter, in 1966. The couple had three children together before both his wife and daughter, Naomi, perished in a tragic car accident in 1972. In a 2015 speech at Yale, he opened up about this dark period:

‘My whole world was altered forever.’

Joe Biden met Jill Jacobs on a blind date in 1975, three years after his wife's death. The couple tied the knot in 1977, and they raised his two sons, Hunter and Beau, together, before becoming the President and First Lady of the United States. 

Beatles iconic member Paul McCartney married his first wife, Linda Eastman, in 1969, and he later adopted her daughter, Heather, as his own. The couple even had their own band, Wings. Sadly, Linda passed away in 1998 after a long battle against breast cancer. In 2019, he told the BBC:

‘I think I cried for about a year on and off. You expect to see them walk in, this person you love, because you are so used to them… I cried a lot. It was almost embarrassing except it seemed the only thing to do.’

Since Linda's tragic death, Paul McCartney has had several long-term relationships, and got married again as well, but they did not work out until he met entrepreneur Nancy Shevell. The couple said ‘I do’ in 2011, and they have been together ever since.

Journalist and author Katie Couric married Jay Monahan in 1989. They remained together, and had two children, before he passed away from colon cancer at the age of 42, in 1998. The BBC broadcaster has always been open about her grief, and she has used her husband's story to raise awareness about this type of cancer. 

After taking the time she needed to heal, Katie Couric asked her friend Molly to set her up with one of her husband's surgeon colleagues. She married John Molner in 2014, after dating for only two years. She told People in 2018:

‘What can I say, he had me at hello!’

Supermodel Iman and superstar David Bowie were married for 24 years, and had a daughter together, before the singer's untimely death in 2016, after a 2-year battle with liver cancer. Iman spoke on the Today Show in 2021:

'I don't think it will ever go away, but the acceptance of it, and the remembrance of the joy, rather than saying every memory that, 'Oh, I wish he was here, I wish we could experience this together.' Now I remember the 26 joyful years I had with my husband.'

When asked about her love life, Iman explains she still feels bound to her husband, thus she is not looking for another relationship. She explained on the Today Show in 2021:

'People say to me when they talk, 'Oh, I loved your late husband,' and I say, 'He's not my late husband, he's my husband,' so that's how I feel about it. This was truly the love of my life, and I just wait until I meet him again.'