Richard E Grant reveals his late wife Joan Washington had lung cancer | Richard E Grant

Richard E Grant has revealed that his 35-year-old wife Joan Washington was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer eight months before her death.

The actor, 64, known for films including Withnail And I and Can You Ever Forgive Me ?, announced that Washington, a vocal coach, died earlier this month, aged 71, in sharing a video of the couple dancing together on Only You by the Platters. on Twitter.

Writing in the Daily Mail, the Oscar nominee described the impact of losing his wife and their nearly four decades together, which he called “the ride of my life.”

The couple married in 1986 and share a daughter, Olivia, and a stepson, Tom, from Washington’s previous relationship.

“Since being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer two days before Christmas, she has been accepting, clear-headed, optimistic, and totally without self-pity,” Grant wrote.

“The Royal Marsden Hospital Oncology Team, NHS Nurses, Price’s Mill Surgery and Longfield Palliative Caregivers have been more than exemplary.

“It has been my privilege to be by your side, to share our last eight months together, to allow us to say whatever we wanted and needed to, so when you asked Olivia and I two weeks’ of letting me go ‘, we unequivocally said yes’.

“Olivia and I are deeply grateful for everything you have given us, and we are relieved that you no longer have to struggle to breathe.”

His wife’s love was “immeasurable,” his loss “incalculable,” Grant wrote.

“It’s an amazing phenomenon to be truly ‘seen’ and ‘known’ by another human, and in Joan, I found someone who innately did both.

“The depth of our grief is reflected in the depth of our love.
Goodbye Monkee-mine. Do not forget us.”

Grant also revealed that the Prince of Wales came to visit Washington, nicknamed “the Colonel”, shortly before his death.

Prince Charles came to see ‘the colonel’ last month, sat down next to her, took her hand and said, ‘It was an absolute honor to have known you, Joan’ to which she immediately joked: “I’m still here. Which broke the ice and made all three of us laugh, ”he wrote.

Washington, originally from Aberdeen, trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and began his career as a dialect coach on Barbra Streisand’s Yentl film in 1983..

She then worked as a voice and dialect coach in the film industry for almost 40 years, training stars like Anne Hathaway, Vanessa Redgrave and Emma Stone.