When we lose a family member in death, it can be quite a difficult time for everyone in the family. That is especially true when it is a beloved mother because it affects the children, as well as the husband, all of whom were left behind and perhaps struggling to put the pieces together again. That was the case with Liam Neeson and his sons, Micheál and Daniel when their mother, Natasha Richardson died in 2009. Liam has experienced a profound loss as a result of that death and he has been very open about talking through it in interviews. There is no doubt that he also deals with it on a private level, but his sons are also dealing with it.
It was in 2014 when Liam had an interview with Anderson Cooper and said that he still didn’t feel as if it really happened. Even after seeing the x-ray and being told that she was brain dead, he continued to tell her that she would come back. Unfortunately, the skiing accident that she had on March 16, 2009, took her life but now one of her sons is attempting to honor his mother in a very profound way. Whatever she passed away, Micheál was only 13 years old and he made a decision in 2018 that perhaps surprised many people. He decided that he would change his last name to Richardson in order to honor his mother.
The choice to change your name is nothing that should be taken lightly. There is no doubt that he thought a lot about his mother in the years since she passed away and made the decision after thinking about how he could honor her in the best way possible. Perhaps it was even more profound of a decision after they made the film, Made in Italy, in which he starred with his father in a movie about living life after the loss of a wife and mother.
In the end, it really is a very personal decision how we are going to honor somebody who passed away. For one young man, however, renaming himself to carry on his mother’s last name is something that he feels will honor her in the best way possible.