Sir Michael Palin has opened up about the death of his wife and his own mortality as he shared an update on the heartbreaking next steps for himself as he gets older
Sir Michael Palin says he has made preparations for the end of his life. In a new interview, the Monty Python star spoke about his will and how his kids “know where to find what they need to find should I die”.
The TV star has opened up about the devastating loss of his wife, Helen, who died in 2023. Speaking about their romance and lige together, he said: “Helen and I met on holiday in 1959. I was about 16 at the time. It was a holiday romance that built up to a long marriage. There was always a feeling that we were a unit – I hadn’t really realised until that after she’d died.
“That was a difficult thing: there was half of your life gone. I still say, ‘We’ve got in our garden…’, ‘We have two grandchildren…’ although she’s still here. I still use the ‘we’. I find it almost impossible to say, ‘I am…'” It comes as Lulu made a desperate plea to Sharon Osbourne ahead of Black Sabbath rocker Ozzy Osbourne’s funeral today.
In an interview for the On the Marie Curie Couch podcast, Michael explained that his wife had been in pain for years following a knee replacement before a “number of different things were diagnosed”.
“She had some problems with her heart. The gradual withdrawal from life was something I think she found very, very difficult; she was a gregarious person and full of fun. In the end, she was diagnosed with kidney failure. Then she got pneumonia and we went into hospital. We had a pretty bad experience there,” he explained.
He said the care she had received at a Marie Curie hospice had made all the difference and that she was happier during the last few days of life than in the previous six years of her life.
Michael has three children with his late wife Helen – William, Rachel and Thomas. He admitted: “I do think about death and the family are rather wonderful about it: “Have you made a will? Can I be in your will?”
“I’ve made my will and all that. My family, my children, know where to find what they need to find should I die.” He insisted he doesn’t dwell on mortality and lives for each day but admits he’s “slightly unsteady” on his feet from time to time.
He said: “I’m 82 now, which is longer than any Palin male has lived for 200 years. I keep fit and I’m working, fortunately, and doing some quite difficult stuff, filming and all that.
“I kid myself that I’m going to be alright, and yet I know that I won’t because you feel tired at certain times. You’re slightly unsteady as you get out of bed, and you think, what’s happening? Well, the old car’s getting a bit rusty.”
Michael had open heart surgery back in 2019 and says the death of his wife Helen had helped the whole family look at death in a more direct way, something which he was discouraged from doing as a kid.
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