As the loved ones of Natasha Richardson continue to mourn, a family decision made in the wake of the Tony-winning actress’s sudden death March 18 has brought a measure of comfort: After Richardson was taken off life support at Manhattan’s Lenox Hill Hospital, her family requested that her organs be donated to other patients whose lives they might save.
Organ donation “is very Natasha,” a family friend says in the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday. “She spent so much time fighting the stigma of AIDS; someone like that would naturally donate her organs. At least by donating her organs something good could come out of [the tragedy].”
Richardson, 45, died after falling during a ski lesson at a Canadian resort on March 16. An autopsy performed in New York City showed that a blow to her head had caused a fatal epidural hematoma, bleeding between her brain and her skull.
In the days since Richardson’s death, her husband of 14 years, actor Liam Neeson, 56, and the couple’s sons Micheal, 13, and Daniel, 12, have shown remarkable public poise in dealing with the tragedy. “Liam is doing okay,” says family friend Blaine Trump. “It takes a while to absorb this. But he says the family needs to move forward. They will take it one step at a time.”
The Irish actor was expected to return to work on the Toronto set of his upcoming drama Chloe, and the boys were headed back to school. “With good friends by their side,” says Trump, “they will get through the tough days ahead.”
Liam Neeson and Vanessa Redgrave gathered to watch New York City’s Broadway lights dim for Natasha Richardson, who died Wednesday after a tragic skiing accident.
Joined by actor friends Sarah Jessica Parkerand Matthew Broderick during the touching tribute, Neeson shielded his eyes under a baseball cap, the London Telegraph reports.
The New York City Medical Examiner told Usmagazine.com Thursday Richardson, 45, died from a “blunt impact to the head” after the Monday tumble near Montreal. Her family released a statement Wednesday saying they were “shocked and devastated.”
On Thursday, her uncle Corin Redgrave said he hoped she would be remembered as a “wonderful, very glamorous person and a very beautiful person.”
Broadway star Patrick Wilson told Us Richardson was “a fantastic talent” at the revival of West Side Story Thursday night.
Although Richardson starred in movies — and wed her husband after Nell – she was acclaimed for her theater work, and won a Tony after appearing as Sally Bowles in Cabaret.
Said In The Heights actress Lin Manuel Miranda: “It’s a tragic loss…I was a huge fan of her work. So it’s just really unbelievably sad. I wanted to see her next thing.”
Kathleen Turner told Us, “I’m just heartsick.
“I loved her. We knew each other, we liked each other. I admired her work, she admired mine. I thought she was a terrific person. It’s just shocking.”
The New York City medical examiner has made a ruling on what exactly killed Natasha Richardson.
Following an autospy this morning, the agency determined that the Tony Award-winning actress succumbed to an “epidural hematoma due to blunt impact to the head.” The death was ruled an accident, said medical examiner spokeswoman Ellen Borakove.
A private memorial is being planned by the Greenwich Village Funeral Home.
The 45-year-old stage and screen star died Wednesday, two days after what was described as a minor fall during ski lessons on a beginner slope.
Richardson was lucid following the tumble Monday at the Mont Tremblant resort near Montreal. “She did not show any visible sign of injury, but the ski patrol followed strict procedures and brought her back to the bottom of the slope and insisted she should see a doctor,” a spokeswoman for the resort told E! News.
But, according to the Toronto Globe and Mail, paramedics were turned back after being informed they were not needed.
“They never saw the patient, so they turned around,” said Yves Coderre, director of operations at Ambulances Radisson, the emergency services company for the resort. (more…)
I love this movie. I watch it with my kids every time it’s on the Disney Channel.
Lindsay Lohan was 12 when she shot to child stardom in The Parent Trap. But she wasn’t too young to remember who helped her rise.
“She was a wonderful woman and actress and treated me like I was her own,” the now 22-year-old starlet said of former costar Natasha Richardson, who died Wednesday from head trauma apparently suffered in a skiing accident two days before.
“I didn’t see much of her over the years but I will miss her,” Lohan added. “My heart goes out to her family. This is a tragic loss.”
Richardson played Lohan’s prim British mom in the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap who, with the help of Lohan-times-two finds love again with her ex, played by Dennis Quaid.
In life, Richardson’s survivors include her husband of 14 years, Liam Neeson, sons Michael, 13, and Daniel, 12, mother Vanessa Redgrave, sister Joely Richardson and aunt Lynn Redgrave.
Liam Neeson and his family have just released the following statement about the passing of Natasha Richardson:
“Liam Neeson, his sons, and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha. They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time.”
As Natasha Richardson remained in a New York hospital, her family and friends had all but given up hope that she’ll recover from a severe head injury.
“There is no chance,” a family friend told PEOPLE on Tuesday night. “It is a fact that her heart is beating but she is brain dead.”
Her dire condition – doctors described it to those close to Richardson as “leakage of blood between the brain and skull,” the friend says – has the actress’s family coming to grips with potentially having to make an unthinkably difficult decision. “It’s not official yet,” says the friend, “but they basically will detach her.”
Richardson, 45, the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave, suffered a devastating head injury Monday while skiing on a beginner’s slope outside Montreal during a trip with at least one of her two sons. Her husband, Liam Neeson, 56, raced from a Toronto movie set to be with her as she was hospitalized.
On Tuesday, a private jet brought them both to New York, where family and friends gathered for a vigil. Reps for the family have declined to comment on Richardson’s medical condition.
TMZ has obtained information about Natasha Richardson’s ambulance ride in New York to Lenox Hill Hospital — she was “unconscious,” her pupils “non-reactive,” her skin was “pale” and she was suffering from “major head trauma.”
We’re told her husband Liam Neeson held her hand the entire time and caressed her face as he sat in silence.
We’re also told when the plane landed in New Jersey, medics on board told members of the ambulance team that Richardson was “brain dead.”
