Damian told friends of wife’s cancer just days before her death
DAMIAN Lewis got in touch with his closest friends to tell them about his brave wife’s cancer battle, only days before he announced she had died.
David Harewood, Damian’s former co-star in TV series Homeland, was contacted a “couple of days” before it was revealed Helen McCrory had passed away aged 52 on April 16.
David, 55, described Helen as “an incredible, wonderful woman”, and added of the news from Damian, 50: “It was all very, very upsetting. Nobody knew. It was shocking and unbelievably sad.
“Damian did such a tremendous job in publicly handling all that. My heart goes out to him and to their two young children.”
Since September, David has been desperately missing his own family while filming TV show Super Girl in Canada – and says the pandemic has made him reevaluate his priorities.
The Birmingham-born actor said: “This time last year the pandemic kicked off and it was probably the first time in 10 years that I had stopped working. Just stopped.
“I found it tremendously reaffirming to stop everything and be at home with my family, reappraise where I am in my life, my priorities – my family, being a father, being a husband. For me it was a life-affirming moment.”
He is now supporting the VaccinAid campaign – a partnership between Crowdfunder and Unicef – to provide two billion Covid vaccines to the most vulnerable people around the world.
The campaign, which has already raised more than £900,000, is backed by the NHS and stars including Ewan McGregor, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Gemma Chan.
Rob Love, CEO at Crowdfunder, said: “We’re calling for everyone to join us at vaccinaid.org to donate, or to come up with their own fundraiser to help tackle the devastating effects of Covid-19.”