Damian Lewis paid a heartbreaking tribute to his wife Helen McCrory, nine months after she died of cancer.
The beloved actress, 52, tragically passed away from breast cancer in April last year, and on Tuesday, Damian took to the stage for the first time since her death to honour his wife.
During a poetry performance at the National Theatre in London, the Billions star dedicated the event to the memory of Helen, and was visibly emotional as he spoke about the Peaky Blinders star.
“This evening is dedicated to her and it's perfect, because Helen loved the National Theatre,” Damian told the star-studded audience.
“One person whose thunder would absolutely not be stolen was Helen McCrory.”
The couple’s children, daughter Manon, 15, and son Gulliver, 14, were also in attendance at the poetry event, which saw Helen’s friends and colleagues, including Simon Russell Beale, Lesley Sharp, Fay Ripley and Danny Sapani, read pieces from Allie Esiri’s latest anthology, A Poet For Every Day Of The Year.
The 50-year-old actor held it together to read a verse from Everything Is Going To Be All Right, by Irish poet Derek Mahon.
“There will be dying, but there is no need to go into that...The sun rises in spite of everything...Everything is going to be all right,” he said.
It marks the first time that Damian has spoken about his wife since her death, and at the end of the poetry performance, a recording of Helen reading Wild Geese by Mary Oliver from last year’s event was shown.
The Homeland star sat with his eyes closed as his late wife’s voice filled the theatre, and the 900-strong audience applauded after the video finished.
Poet Allie Esiri also paid tribute to Helen, and said the event is what the actress would’ve wanted.
“It's what she would have told us to do – ‘OK, enough already, get on with the show!’ She loved poetry and I think she would have been pleased to be kind of here with us. It felt right,” she said.
The couple wed in 2007, and he paid a powerful tribute to his wife two days after news of her devastating death was announced.
He wrote that “she's left our beautiful children too early, but they have been prepared for life.
“She has exhorted us to be courageous and not afraid. As she said repeatedly to the children, ‘Don't be sad’... Her generosity has extended to encouraging us three to live. Live fully, take opportunities, have adventures.”
