Downton’s Michelle: I see myself as a widow ...just like Lady Mary
HEARTBROKEN Downton Abbey actress Michelle Dockery says she considers herself a widow – two years after her Irish fiancé died from cancer.
‘I’ve never been more committed to anything in my life than to him,’ she revealed in an interview yesterday.
‘I don’t have the vocabulary to describe what it felt like and what it still feels like. I refer to myself as a widow, yes. We were engaged, and married at heart, and so I do consider myself a widow.’
Ms Dockery, 35, and John Dineen from Cork were engaged for a year before he died at the age of 34. The actress had been introduced to the PR executive by her Downton Abbey co-star, Dubliner Allan Leech.
As Mr Dineen battled the disease, Dockery’s character in Downton, Lady Mary Crawley, also lost her husband.
‘One of the difficult things at the time was the parallels with Mary,’ said the actress. ‘It was just baffling, and still is to me, that my character’s storyline was so similar.’
Ms Dockery also recalled meeting disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein several years ago, saying: ‘I remember feeling uncomfortable.’ She said she was not surprised by the sexual misconduct allegations.