Corrie Charlie: I’ve scattered my late wife’s ashes at last
Charlie with late wife Ellie in 1996 CORRIE star Charlie Lawson has finally scattered his late wife Lesley Bond’s ashes after his partner told him “we need to do this”.
Charlie, who plays Jim McDonald, said make-up designer Lesley was struggling with prescription drug and alcohol addiction when she died of hypothermia following a fall eight years ago.
Partner Debbie Stanley arranged for them to spread her remains in a special place in Scotland this year.
The actor, 59, said of Lesley: “If there’s a heaven she deserves to be there because she had a very unpleasant life.
“The poor wee soul was too damaged to be here. I still miss her. Debbie is my girl but Lesley has a special part of my heart and always will have.”
Lesley, who was Charlie’s second wife, died aged 55 in 2010. He has been with Debbie for 10 years.
He said Lesley was “a massive, chronic sufferer of depression” and that they had split up when she died.
He said: “She had a horrible end. She’d become a raging alcoholic. There was no one else involved, and we still loved each other very much, but it was becoming dangerous to be with her. She was living CHARLIE LAWSON ON DEATH OF WIFE LESLEY
in Oxford and had a fall. Police were called a couple of days later as she’d been reported missing. They said I had to identify her. They initially thought she had been murdered, but she had died of hypothermia.
“It was awful, absolutely terrible to go and identify her because I loved her. “We had her ashes for a long time but I knew where Ellie, as I called her, wanted them to go as she had told me.” On scattering her remains, he said: “Debbie instigated it and told me ‘we need to do this’. “Lesley’s sister – also called Debbie – and her husband came along and the four of us went up. “My Debbie was brilliant because it was hard for her too. I’m proud of Debbie for doing what she did and I’ll never forget it.” Charlie has a daughter, Laura, from his first marriage, and has apologised for putting “drink, drugs and partying” before her. He first appeared in the ITV soap in October 1989 and was a regular until 2000. He has made numerous guest appearances on the Cobbles since then, including one last August. He has recovered after having a mini-stroke while performing on stage last year. THOUGHTFUL Charlie & Debbie
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She had become an alcoholic but we still loved each other