RICHARD E Grant has paid tribute to his wife of 35 years after she tragically died last night.
The actor, 64, confirmed the “love of his life” Joan Washington had passed away in a heartbreaking tweet.
The Withnail and I star said: “ONLY YOU!Joan – Love of my Life & Giver of Life to our daughter Olivia.
“Our hearts are broken with the loss of your Life last night. 35 years married & 38 together.
“To be truly known and seen by you, is your immeasurable gift. Do not forget us, sweet Monkee-mine.”
Grant accompanied the moving tribute with a video of him dancing with Joan. It is not clear how Joan died yet.
The actor married dialect coach Joan in 1986 after meeting her when she taught an accent session at an acting school in December 1982.
The couple have a daughter Olivia together and Grant is also stepdad to Joan’s son Tom from a previous relationship.
Tragically Joan suffered three miscarriages before Olivia was born.
The couple’s first child, Tiffany, died shortly after birth after being born prematurely.
Can You Ever Forgive Me? star Grant previously said he hadn’t ever considered getting married until he met Joan.
But after spending six weeks apart when he visited family in South Africa, he realised he wanted to make the commitment and proposed at Heathrow when he returned.
They tied the knot shortly after in a registry office as they didn’t want a big event.
Speaking about the moment he met Joan, Grant said previously: “She was teaching an accent session with a bunch of actors, and I thought she had the most wonderful voice and huge, sort of monkey eyes.
“She seemed fairly frenetic. I thought that she was really cute and all that. It was December 1982.
“We found that we had a fair amount in common, and that we liked speaking a huge amount. She seemed very un-English in that way. We just got on instantly.”