‘She was the foundation of my life’: Michael Palin announces his beloved wife Helen has passed away after suffering from chronic pain and kidney failure
Michael has announced that his beloved wife of 57 years Helen has sadly passed away after suffering from chronic pain and kidney failure.
The actor, 79, confirmed the devastating news in a post shared on his official website on Tuesday, announcing that Helen had passed away in the early hours of the morning.
He described her as the “foundation of my life” and said her death was an “indescribable loss” to himself and their three children – Thomas, 54, William, 52, and Rachel, 48.
Michael shared that his childhood sweetheart Helen had been suffering from chronic pain for a few years and was diagnosed with kidney failure before her death.
The couple met when they were just 16 years old and married in 1966 in their early twenties, recently marking their 57th wedding anniversary.
Loss: Michael has announced that his beloved wife Helen has sadly passed away after suffering from chronic pain and kidney failure
Announcing the tragic news on his website, the Monty Python star wrote: ‘My dearest wife Helen passed away peacefully in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
“She had been suffering from chronic pain for several years, which was exacerbated by a kidney failure diagnosis a few years ago.
‘We first met on a summer holiday on the Suffolk coast when we were both sixteen and we got married in our early twenties. Two and a half weeks ago we celebrated our 57th wedding anniversary.
“Her death is an indescribable loss to myself, our three children and four grandchildren.
“Helen was the foundation of my life. Her quiet wise judgment was the basis of all my decisions and her humor and practical common sense were at the heart of our life together.
“The family asks that their privacy be respected at this time.”
Last September, Michael spoke about Helen’s poor health when he mentioned that she had been transferred to respite care from the home they had shared for 50 years.
He explained that she had not responded to medications for her chronic pain, saying they moved her to help her “manage” her symptoms.
The comedian told the Telegraph at the time, “I don’t think you can cure it, but they will help her deal with it.”
‘It’s so boring. She was so active and still is mentally. But the body deteriorates. We live life with our fingers crossed.”
