Actress Natascha McElhone, known for roles in "The Truman Show," "Solaris," and "The Other Boleyn Girl," is expecting her third child and is due in just weeks. But it'll have to be without her husband, Martin Kelly, who died of a surprise heart attack in May. The couple already had a pair of sons - Theo, 8, and Otis, 5, and it's been because of them that Natascha has been able to push on through life. She hasn't had any time to be "self-indulgent." With children depending on you, there's no room for that.
McElhone, 36, was working on Showtime's "Californication" and got a voicemail from her husband just 13 minutes before his death in London. Her sons were with her in Los Angeles at the time of their father's death. The couple were planning on celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary the next week, along with the 20-week ultrasound for the baby.
"He left me this message, full of the joys...he couldnt wait to come out, he was so excited about the scan, so excited about the baby," she tells the Times Online. "Thank God, a lovely last message."
It was a family friend who called hours later to give Natascha the horrible news. "I dropped the phone and my knees sort of buckled under me." And telling the boys, who were just across the street playing?
"I thought of trying to suspend time or wait and not tell them for a day but I couldn’t bear the idea of other people knowing and them not. I remember looking out of the window and seeing them chasing after each other with huge squeals of delight and thinking, 'I’m about to shatter their world.' They came in and they were like little boys are, full of energy and excitement, and I told them what had happened. And then the clouds descended...it was awful."
Since then she has made memory boxes for all three children, filling them with lots of Martin's favorite music, letter written by friends, and other keepsakes so that the kids will have a better grasp on who their father was. The kids seem to be responding well.
Natascha's third child is due in about a month. We wish her all the best.
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