Actor Damien Lewis paid a touching tribute to his late wife Helen McCrory in “Good Morning, UK” on Thursday, saying “She’s with us.”
The star, who starred in Sunday’s Soccer Aid, revealed that Helen has always been his biggest supporter – and GMB hosts Kate Garaway and Ben Shepard shared their memories of the Peaky Blinders actor, who died of cancer in April 2021 at 52 -years old.
Ben began by saying: “The first time I met you and your beautiful wife Helen off work was at Soccer Aid many years ago in Manchester and you were there with your family and children.
“She’s Still With Us”: Damien Lewis pays tribute to his late wife Helen McCrory in “Good Morning, UK” on Thursday
“She has always been such a vocal supporter of you and everything you do.
“It was a great honor for Kate and me to be at her memorial service just a few weeks ago. I guess you were very excited about the outpouring of love and support that was shown to her after she sadly passed away.
Damian replied: “Well, she was a great human being and people from all walks of life came together to say what impact she had on their lives.
Difficult times: 51-year-old “Homeland” star lost his wife, actress Helen McCrory, to breast cancer when she died at home at the age of 52 in April last year
Speaking about the memorial, Damian said: “She was celebrated by her tribe, her profession, her acting profession – everyone appeared actors, directors, producers, writers and she is very, very missing.”
“This day we had a few weeks ago was a very special day, I’m very glad you could be a part of it and it was celebrated by her tribe, her profession, her acting profession – actors, directors, producers, writers, everyone showed up and she misses her very, very much.
“When she first came to Soccer Aid, I walked into my hotel room at The Lowry in Manchester and it was covered with Union Jack buntings and flags of England everywhere she went out, bought and decorated the room with. So she is with us. This year she is with us again.
Kate added: “As you say, it has touched the lives of so many people that we all feel the loss that you obviously live with every day, a small part of it anyway.”
Damian said of his late wife: “Well, she was a great human being and people from all walks of life came together to say what impact she had on their lives” (pictured in October 2012).
Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes and Keeley House were among those who packed St. Paul’s Church in London’s Covent Garden last month, a year after Helen sadly died.
Damian was pictured arriving with their children, daughter Manon, 15, who was reading, and son Gulliver, 14, who plays guitar.
The one-hour service began with Beethoven’s Ode to Joy and was followed by a prayer and hymn Make Me, O Great Redeemer.
The readings included one about her “leading men”, while another was a recital of Maya Angelou’s poem “Touched by an Angel”.
Support: Damian first took part in Soccer Aid in 200 (pictured) and said his wife decorated his hotel room with a bunting as a sweet gesture
Helen was best known for her roles as the villain Narcissa Malfoy in the Harry Potter films and as the matriarch of Aunt Polly in Peaky Blinders, the latest series of which honored her.
In addition to her Harry Potter colleagues Miss Bonham Carter and Fiennes, many Peaky Blinders actors were present, including brothers Joe and Finn Cole, who play her screen nephew and son John and Michael Shelby. Other guests included Eddie Redmain, Benedict Cumberbatch and Natasha McElhan.
Lewis, who married Miss McCrory in 2007, announced his death in a heartbreaking statement on social media in April last year.
Named OBE at the 2017 New Year Awards for Merit in Drama, Miss McCrory was also an award-winning stage actress, working with the National Theater, Almeida and Donmar Warehouse, and playing Lady Macbeth at Shakespeare’s Globe.
Rufus Norris, artistic director of the National Theater, said she was “arguably one of the greatest actors of her generation.”
Miss McCrory made her last television appearance in March last year, joining Lewis in Good Morning Britain to promote her work with the charity The Prince’s Trust.
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In a statement in April 2021, Damien wrote: “With a broken heart, I announced that after a heroic battle with cancer, the beautiful and powerful woman who is Helen McCrory has died.”
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