Liam Neeson reveals the reason he has given up dating at 72

24 October 2024, 16:23

He's given up on dating.

It's not like Hollywood actor Liam Neeson is short of options when it comes to finding romance.

But the Oscar-nominated icon has admitted that after a handful of failed relationships, he's no longer interested in the chase.

In a new interview with People magazine, Neeson reflects on his career, his life, and fatherhood.

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When asked if he's out to find love again, Neeson replied: "No, in a word. I’m past all that."

It's not like Liam Neeson has never found love, but his love was taken away from him in the cruellest way.

The actor was married to Natasha Richardson from 1994 until her tragic death in 2009 at the age of just 45.

Since then he has been in several relationships, notably with public relations executive Freya St. Johnston who he met over a year after Natasha passed, though it only lasted for two years.

Instead of searching for love, Neeson has been relishing fatherhood, doing "just simple stuff" with his children.

"We used to do a bit of fly-fishing together. We haven't done it for several years now," he said.

Liam and Natasha had two sons together, Micheál, an actor, and Daniel, an entrepreneur with his own tequila brand.

During the interview with People, however, Neeson did recall his romance with a certain acting legend: Helen Mirren.

The pair first started dating having met on the set of 1981 fantasy film Excalibur, and were together for four years.

Liam looks back on their time together fondly, and recalls a "lovely" trip they took to the South west of France.

"I remember going to see a bullfight there with Helen, which was extraordinary. Got really mixed feelings about that, seeing extraordinary acts of bravery and then seeing this horrible death," he says.

"Then we were on the Loire Valley camping. Oh my God, it was gorgeous. Helen was a good cook, cooking on outside fire and stuff. Lovely."

Elsewhere in the new interview, Neeson dropped a bombshell that will shock his legions of action movie fans.

He revealed that at the end of 2025, he'll be calling time on his period as an action movie stalwart, retiring his "particular set of skills."

The star of Love Actually, Rob Roy, Schindler's List and the Star Wars franchise had a second act as a revenge thriller lead, having starred in 2008 cult classic Taken.

Partly because of the film's unlikely success, and partly because of his wife's sudden death, he threw himself into acting in similar kinds of films until now.

"I’m 72 - it has to stop at some stage," says Neeson on retirement. Despite performing his own stunts, he admitted to leaving the tough stuff to the stunt coordinator Mark Vanselow.

"You can’t fool audiences. I don’t want Mark to be fighting my fight scenes for me."

He’s eyeing an exit sometime in 2025, but hasn’t firmly committed: “Maybe the end of next year. I think that's it,” he says.

Promoting his upcoming revenge movie Absolution, Neeson is set to star in the reboot of Naked Gun alongside former Baywatch beauty Pamela Anderson, but isn't sure he has the chops for a third act in comedy.

"Whether I can carry it or not, I honestly don’t know," he said. But Anderson disagreed: "He’s being humble," she added. "It was hard to keep a straight face in scenes together."