Michael Palin talks to his late wife.
Michael Palin talks to his late wife
The ‘Monty Python’ star, 80, was left devastated when his teacher and bereavement counsellor partner of 57 years Helen was killed aged 80 by kidney failure in 2023, and has now said he chats to her especially when he feels exhausted.
He told The Guardian when asked if he still talks to her: “Well, yeah, I do occasionally.
“I just do it coming into an empty room after you’ve had a long session or something, doing a long interview for The Guardian, whatever, something that really kind of wears you out!
“You get in and you’re going through the door, and I always speak and say: ‘Whoa, wow, that was something!’
“It’s just as a little moment, which helps me when I get into the house, rather than just going in and it’s all key in the lock and silence.”
Michael’s wife encouraged him to do the travelogue shows for which he has been famed for the last 35 years.
His latest travel series sees him journeying to Nigeria, where he meets young people hoping to make their fortune.
They include a young woman who is battling to rebuild her life after being kidnapped by Boko Haram and an environmentalist fighting government corruption.
It marks the first major project he has taken on since Helen died, and Michael admitted he feared his grief would stop him from being up to the job.
He added: “I was quite concerned about whether I could physically and mentally deal with it just a few months after Helen had died.
“But I enjoyed the experience tremendously. I felt I can do this, I can get out there. It’s not someone giving me a job because my wife’s just died. Actually, it regenerated me in a way.”
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