ACTRESS Anna Maxwell Martin has opened up on the ‘isolating’ feeling after her husband died, and the ‘financial terror’ she was left with.
The Line of Duty actress has opened up about her grief for her former husband Roger Michell after his shock death in 2021.
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The couple had split in 2020, after being married for 16 years and sharing two daughters, but Roger’s shock death still had a huge impact on the family.
Speaking during an interview on Woman’s Hour, she explained: “My husband died three years ago.
“Things were really difficult in every aspect of our lives. There’s lots of stuff that comes with grief, and one of those was financial terror.
“Then there are real practicalities around your children, and their mental health and supporting them, which is your priority.”
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She continued: “Looking back I was probably in a heightened state of shock and fear for a long time until very recently.
“I’ve travelled this road of grief and sudden traumatic death before. I’ve done it before. So in a way I could pick myself up and do it again.
“It was horrible to have to see my children walk that road. But I’m pretty gritty and pretty strong, and I think I’m quite deft. I thought, I’ve just got to keep the motor chugging on.”
The Line of Duty star then added that she’d previously experienced grief at the age of 24, which she described as ‘isolating’.
She added: “I was very isolated because no one I knew had been through it. Then when it happened with Rog, I saw it more as, we’ve got to keep it together for the kids.
“It’s something about being a woman in your 40s and by then, if you’re lucky enough you would have succeeded in having the best friends and best people around you.
“You’ll have stopped making mistakes in that area of your life and I really did. I had exceptional friends, and an exceptional support network.”
Anna previously opened up about her grief in 2022, when she told The Guardian: “We didn’t have grudges. I don’t operate like that, Roger didn’t really operate like that.
“It’s very sad if you separate, it’s devastating, and you hope you’ll come back around, after a period of time, where you’ll be …
“When Roger died, I lost one of my best friends. I see it as that.”
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