Richard E. Grant has recalled how his ‘hilarious’ wife Joan Washington ruled out eligible women for him before she died.  

Dialect coach Joan tragically pᴀssed away in September 2021 aged 74, eight months after she was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. 

The Withnail And I star, 67, has been extremely candid about his grief in the years since Joan’s death.

And on Wednesday Richard shared what made him realise his late wife really loved him.

Speaking on The Lulu Podcast: Turning Points, Richard said of Joan: ‘She was hilarious – a month before she died, she went through all the women, the women who were either single, divorced or available or widowed, that we knew, and she basically went through all of them like a lioness and gave me a reason why I shouldn’t pursue any of them.’

‘And I knew how much she loved me by doing that…’ he added.

Richard E. Grant has recalled how his ‘hilarious’ wife Joan Washington ruled out eligible women for him before she died (Seen in 2005)

Dialect coach Joan tragically pᴀssed away in September 2021 aged 74, eight months after she was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer (Seen in 2019)

Richard went on to share Joan’s reaction to him finally meeting his idol, the iconic Barbra Streisand. 

‘They say you should never meet your idols… and after I had this conversation with her and came back to London, and Joan said – even though she was then 79 years old – “If she wasn’t married to James Brolin, would you still jump her bones?”,’ Richard said. 

‘And I said “darling, you know the answer to that”. And she said – “well, I’ve got you, you’re never getting away”.’ 

Of finding love again, Richard said: ‘I have no expectation that I will fall in love again, which is not to say that it couldn’t or wouldn’t happen, I’m not there on a dating app trying to find it. 

‘I feel fulfilled and sustained without feeling like I’ve lost my better half, which I have.’

The couple met in 1986 and married later that year. They shared a daughter Olivia, 34. 

It comes after Richard revealed he is still so in love with his late wife that he emails her each night. 

Richard said: ‘I have no woolly spiritual delusion that she’s hearing this, or that I’m going to get a response, but it somehow keeps the connection going.

Speaking on The Lulu Podcast: Turning Points , Richard said of Joan: ‘She was hilarious – a month before she died, she went through all the women 

The Withnail And I star, 67, has been extremely candid about his grief in the years since Joan’s death (Seen in 1996)

‘So I write to her – “Dear J, today would really have amused you…” It makes it feel like that person is still there – it’s an ongoing conversation.’

Richard has been vocal in his grief since losing the love of his life and has admitted that he has lost friends as he battled heartbreak.

The pair had been together for 38 years at the time of her death.

‘Subsequent to her death, I have had people cross the road rather than talk,’ he said during a conversation at The Times and Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival last year.

‘Whether they think you’re going to fall apart and you’re an emotional wreck, I don’t know. But I will never speak to them again.’

He also recalled an occasion in which a couple who had lived near to his and Joan’s Provence holiday home ignored him when he waved to them.

He said: ‘As I walked towards them they both turned their heads. I thought, “F*** you.” I felt I was being punished because Joan had died.

‘They had never acknowledged it. Maybe they didn’t know how to deal with it.’

Richard announced the death of his wife in September 2021 and released a heartbreaking video of them dancing together.

The couple met in 1986 and married later that year and the pair share a daughter Olivia, 34 (Seen in 2012)

Richard went on to share Joan’s reaction to him finally meeting his idol, the iconic Barbra Streisand (Seen in 2019) 

In an interview last year, Richard said he writes to his late wife of 35 years every day as the thought of her not being here is too much to bear.

The actor added while he has tried dating but ‘nobody else has even come near’ to Joan.

Of his grief, Richard told The Telegraph : ‘I’ve now accepted that I will never understand it trying to imagine not being here is beyond my capacity for thinking.

‘So, I write a letter to Joan every night about what’s going on, and I find that it feels like I have a physical, tangible, ongoing conversation with her that’s written down, I’ve found that really, really helpful.

‘Anticipating what she might think about this, or what is her opinion about that? Even the most mundane things.’