This whole thing is so, so heartbreaking.  I was watching the news last night when they interrupted with breaking news to announce that she had just died, and I cried.  I have always been kind of a “defender” of (most) celebrities, always trying to remind people that they are just people who happen to have high-profile careers, and that they still have families and children and PTA meetings and leaky faucets and everything else that us “regular” folk deal with, even if they can afford to fix that faucet right away instead of waiting a few paychecks to call the plumber.  When things like this happen, it just reminds me even more of this.  She was a famous actor from a famous family, married to a famous actor… but that’s not who she was. 

 

She was Liam’s wife for 14 years, and mother to two rambunctious boys, Michael and Daniel.  She had a little sister, Joely.  She was the daughter of a man who died of AIDS-related causes and became a tireless crusader for the cause, helping to raise millions of dollars for the American Foundation for AIDS Research.  She had a strong work ethic and a great sense of humor, and when she wasn’t working she preferred to stay at home with her boys.  She was a loyal friend, intelligent, generous and funny.  She was godmother to two of Mia Farrow‘s children.  Harvey Weinstein said of her, “For all her talent and beauty, she was egoless.”

 

I prefer to remember her for things like that, things about her as a person and not her professional accomplishments.  I hope people leave Liam, her boys, her mother, and all of them alone as they grieve and put the pieces of their lives back together.  I am so heartbroken.

 

-Annie