Anna Maxwell Martin has revealed she felt a sense of “financial terror” after the death of her ex-husband, filmmaker Roger Michell, and feared the potential impact on their children’s mental wellbeing.
Best known for her roles in BBC’s Motherland and Line of Duty, the 47-year-old was devastated by Michell’s sudden passing in 2021, just a year after the couple had separated.
The British actress said her immediate priority was to protect their daughters, Maggie, 15, and Nancy, 13, while facing an uncertain financial future.
She told BBC’s Women's Hour: “My husband died three years ago and things were really difficult on every aspect of our lives.
“One of those was that there's a lot of stuff that comes with grief, and one of them is financial terror. And then there are real practicalities around your children and their mental health, and supporting them, which is your priority.
“Looking back, I was probably in a state of shock, and fear, and a heightened state, for a long time actually, until very recently.”
Michell, celebrated for directing Notting Hill, Enduring Love, and The Buddha of Suburbia, passed away aged 65 on September 22, 2021.
Reflecting on the loss, Martin said the experience of losing her father, Ivan Martin, at the age of 24 helped her find resilience in the face of her ex-husband’s passing.
She shared: “I've tried this road before, of grief, and sudden traumatic death. I've done it before, and so in a way I could pick myself up and do it again.
“It was horrible to have to see my children walk that road, but I'm pretty gritty, I'm pretty strong, and I think I'm quite deft, I hope, at navigating life. And I thought, ‘I've just got to keep the motor chugging on.’”
Speaking about the impact of her father’s death, Martin continued: “When it happened to me [for the first time] and I was 24, I was very lonely. I was very isolated because no-one had been through what I'd been through. I didn't know those people.
“And then when it happened with Rog, I saw it more as, ‘we've all got to keep it together for the kids.’
“I also think there's something about being a woman in your 40s, and by then, if you're lucky enough, you will have succeeded in having the best friends and best people around you.
“You'll have stopped making mistakes in that area of your life. And I really did, I had exceptional friends, an exceptional support network.”
