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Richard E Grant says friends have been trying to set him up with new women but his wife’s death is still ‘too raw’

‘It’s not something I could even conceive of at this point,’ he said

Ellie Harrison
Sunday 18 September 2022 08:38 BST
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Richard E Grant announces death of wife Joan Washington, shares a sweet tribute

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Richard E Grant has said that his friends have been trying to set him up with new women, but he is not ready after the death of his wife last year.

Washington, a respected vocal coach, died from lung cancer in September 2021. The couple had been together for 38 years.

Washington helped actors such as Cate Blanchett and Ralph Fiennes perfect accents for their roles and was called “just the best, hands down” by Liv Tyler.

She and Grant married in 1986 and shared a daughter, Olivia, and a stepson, Tom, from Washington’s previous relationship.

In a new interview with The Guardian, Grant was asked whether people have been attempting to fix him up with “eligible women”, to which he replied: “Some have, yes. And I find that absolutely bizarre. It’s not something I could even conceive of at this point.

“It’s still too raw and present, and I am still having an ongoing conversation with my wife in my head.”

The Withnail and I star wrote about his wife in his new memoir, A Pocketful of Happiness, revealing that when he first met her, she was “boiler-suited, Kicker-booted and sporting a Laurie Anderson spiked haircut, a charismatic and formidable presence”.

The Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, shakes hands with Richard E Grant
The Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, shakes hands with Richard E Grant (PA Archive)

His book will be published by Simon & Schuster on 29 September.

It is his third memoir, after 1996’s With Nails and 2006’s The Wah Wah Dairies: The Making of a Film.

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