Michael Palin, 82, shares grief update as Monty Python star marks two years since wife Helen’s death
Sir Michael Palin has spoken movingly about how his grief has transformed two years after losing his wife Helen, saying he now feels her spirit around him rather than the acute pain of loss.
The 82-year-old Monty Python legend detailed: “I can see why people say it takes two years or so before your response gradually changes. It becomes less about loss and more about the spirit of that person being around, so that’s very nice.”
The comedian and travel presenter added to Saga Magazine: “I feel less grief now, and more that I’ve got to keep on doing things, looking after the children we made together.”
His reflections come as he promotes his latest volume of diaries, There and Back, now available in paperback.
Palin first met Helen Gibbins on a beach in Southwold, Suffolk, in 1959 when he was still a teenager.
The encounter was later fictionalised in his 1987 BBC drama East Of Ipswich.
The couple were married for 57 years and had three children together, as well as four grandchildren.
Helen, who worked as a teacher before becoming a bereavement counsellor, died in May 2023 aged 80 from kidney failure.
She had made the decision to stop dialysis treatment due to chronic pain. The couple had celebrated their wedding anniversary just two-and-a-half weeks before her death.
It was Helen who encouraged Palin to pursue his now-famous travel documentaries, which began with Around the World in 80 Days in the 1980s.
Palin revealed he continues to have conversations with Helen as if she were still present.
“I talk to myself as if she’s there. I’ll show some spectacular bit of incompetence that I know she would have found funny, then I’ll hear myself saying something in the way she would have said it and I’ll laugh, even though I’m the only one there,” he said.
He finds comfort in the familiar surroundings of their home, with the actor adding: “Her pictures are everywhere, the chairs we used to sit in, the books she used to read, that sort of thing. They have become reassuring.”
Despite Helen’s career as a bereavement counsellor, Palin has chosen not to seek formal therapy.
“The family have been my bereavement counsellors really,” he explained, noting that his three children all live nearby.
Palin firmly ruled out finding new love, telling Saga: “We were a unit for so long. You can never begin to replace a relationship which lasted 60 years.”
Palin remains determined to maintain his independence, despite admitting he struggles with practical matters like cooking.
“I didn’t want to be dependent on the family to come around every day,” he said, adding: “But it turns out I’m quite good at being on my own.”
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The presenter has acknowledged experiencing difficult moments. “I get dark days, when you feel a bit down and wonder what you’re going to do on a cold autumn Sunday on your own, but I factor that in.”
Yet he remains active, continuing his travels to places like Venezuela. “I’m OK living on my own, then I go off to Venezuela or somewhere. I’m not moping,” he said.