Hidden behind that cold, strong appearance is a life full of sadness and tears.

When mentioning Liam Neeson , many people will immediately remember the image of an “old” father often seen in action movies. Famous for his role as Bryan Mills in the Taken film series , this star continuously conquered the box office with a series of action blockbusters such as Batman Begins , The Gray , The Unknown ,… But behind the tough and cool appearance. Despite his appearance, in reality he had a personal life full of tragedy and tears.

Growing up in turbulent times

Born in 1952 in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, Liam grew up in a period of historical upheaval. This was a period in Northern Ireland where there were continuous religious conflicts and confrontations, as well as conflicts between the governments in Northern Ireland and Great Britain. In an interview with CNN, he recalled that he was raised Catholic, but the area where he lived was mostly Protestant. Therefore, there are often conflicts here, leading to the deaths of thousands of people, and he always has to be careful before going out.

Liam as a child with his sisters

But despite living in conflict and conflict since childhood, Liam still felt shocked when the “Bloody Sunday” event in Ireland took place. Specifically, on January 13, 1972, British police shot dead 13 protesters and injured 17 people when they marched to protest British policies on detaining suspected Irish people. support nationalism.

At that time, he was in class to attend class. But when he went to class, Liam discovered there were only three students in the class. To find out what happened, he rushed out and saw more than 200 students protesting and the above bloody event happened. Talking about this, he always considered it a “terrifying” experience and a “wake-up call” for him.

Fired while trying to protect lives

Before becoming an actor, Liam worked in many different jobs, including driving a forklift in a brewery, being an apprentice, and even a teacher. But during his internship, he encountered strange situations in the first days of class.

Young Liam Neeson

Sharing about this time with ESPN, he said that while he was trying to teach and stabilize the class, a student intentionally caused trouble. Therefore, he went to this person and asked him to stand up and leave the classroom. However, the student did not listen and took out a knife to threaten him.

Surprised by this behavior, he felt threatened and immediately punched him. Because of this act of trying to protect himself, he was fired and expelled from the teaching profession.

Almost died at the age of 48

In 2000, Liam Neeson almost died while driving home in New York. According to the New York Post, while driving his ’89 Harley Davidson, he lost control and his car crashed straight into a tree. At that time, the male actor had to “try to crawl to the main road” and was rescued by a passerby.

The actor is on crutches after the accident

When taken to the hospital, the Taken star was injected with a lot of morphine. After recovering, he said he “thought he wouldn’t survive that night” but felt lucky to still get through it and considered morphine as a miracle drug. Even so, he was still worried that his children would suffer negative effects from his father’s medicine.

Had to manually remove my wife’s breathing tube

On March 16, 2009, while skiing at the Mont Tremblant ski resort in Quebec, Canada, Liam’s wife, actress Natasha Richardson, rolled down the hill and hit her head on a rock while not wearing a helmet. . Initially, the actress seemed to be okay and did not need a doctor’s help. But after an hour, she had a severe headache and was immediately transferred to the hospital.

Hearing the bad news, Liam quickly left the Chloe studio in Toronto to be with his wife. Afterwards, the Taken star took his wife to Lenox Hill Hospital, New York for treatment, but the situation could not be saved, Natasha fell into a state of brain death and vegetative state. In the end, Liam kept his wife in a vegetative state so family and friends could say goodbye to her and then personally removed her breathing tube. After Natasha passed away, her body was donated to three other people, giving them a new life.

Liam and his family at his wife’s funeral

Before his wife’s death, Liam was completely devastated. In the early days, he couldn’t believe his wife was gone and still felt like he could hear her voice when he returned to their home. After that, he had to take dozens of psychological tests to prove that he was okay and from then on, he no longer married anyone.

The eldest son was devastated by his mother’s passing

When Natasha died, his eldest son Micheál Neeson was only 13 years old. After the death of his mother, Micheál fell into severe depression and depression, leading to uncontrolled behavior.

The actor next to his eldest son Micheál

In 2014, after many days of immersing himself in wild parties, he realized he was in a bad situation and decided to follow his father’s advice to go to treatment centers. Fortunately, he eventually overcame this bad situation and lived better. In 2018, Micheál changed his last name from Neeson to Richardson as a way to honor his late mother.