Liam Neeson Says Helen Mirren Is 'Really Something Else' as He Recalls Their Years-Long Relationship
Dave J Hogan/Getty; Thomas Niedermueller/Getty Liam Neeson; Helen Mirren
Liam Neeson has nothing but love for former girlfriend Helen Mirren.
In a recent interview with ET Canada, Neeson, 70, called Mirren "a remarkable woman" and actress when asked about their past relationship.
"I should be so lucky and be honored to have spent three or four years with that lady," Neeson said of the Oscar winner, 77, whom he dated between 1980 and 1985. "She's really something else."
Though it's been a long time since the two were a couple, both actors have always reflected fondly on their history together.
In November 2022, Mirren opened up about her and Neeson's time together in an AARP The Magazine cover story, telling the outlet, "We were not meant to be together in that way, but we loved each other very, very much."
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Mirren added, "I love him deeply to this day. He's such an amazing guy."
Neeson has also said he was "smitten" right off the bat with Mirren when the two met on the set of their 1981 film Excalibur.
"I remember being on the set and standing with Ciarán Hinds as Helen walked towards us dressed in her full Morgana Le Fey costume and we both went, 'Oh f---,' " he said in 2018 on The Graham Norton Show,
After the two dated — and lived together for years — Mirren began dating director Taylor Hackford, whom she met during her audition for his 1985 movie White Nights and eventually wed in 1997.
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Meanwhile, Neeson went on to marry Natasha Richardson in 1994, and the pair had two sons: Micheál, 27, and Daniel, 26.
In 2009, Richardson died from blunt force trauma a result of a skiing accident at age 45. In the years since, the actor has relied on his career to stay busy.
"I'm not good without work," he told Anderson Cooper in 2014. "I just don't wallow too much. You know? And I just didn't want to — especially for my boys — seem to be wallowing in sadness or depression."
Neeson's eldest son, Micheál, changed his last name from Neeson to Richardson in 2018, to honor his late mother.
"It was a way to honor her and her side of the family and carry on the name," Micheál told PEOPLE in 2020.
