Damian Lewis is trying to live life to the full following the death of his wife Helen McCrory
The 54-year-old actor was married to 'Peaky Blinders' star Helen from 2007 until she passed away after a battle with breast cancer at the age of 52 in 2021, and the 'Wolf Hall' star has now explained he is getting through the grief with a "manic defence" approach
24 April 2025
He told the Daily Mail's Eden Confidential column: "There's a well-known psychological state in grief, or post any sort of trauma, which is called the manic defence.
"I have the manic defence in a very pronounced way, which is that you affirm life.
"So in amongst the inevitable days of being in a heap on the floor bawling your eyes out, there is your manic defence, which is like, 'Come on, live life, move forward, and reaffirm life.'"
Damian and Helen got married in 2007 and had two children together - a daughter called Manon, 18, and a son called Gulliver - and he has said it is important to carry on living life because he wants his children to know that "everything is not over" yet.
The 'Homeland' actor added: "Life is there for the taking, to be lived.
"Especially when you have two children - making sure they have a sense that everything is not over."
Following Helen's passing in 2021, Damian admitted that he felt "physically drained" and "wiped out" for months.
He told The Guardian newspaper in 2022: "For four or five months, you're physically drained.
"Helen was ill for four and a half years.
"They say that the first day of diagnosis of an illness that could be terminal is the first day of your grief."
And while she was alive and battling the disease, the 'Billions' actor found himself in a state of "semi-grief" and lived in fear of the situation.
He added: "You are in a state of semi-grief while the person is still alive because there is always the sense that something might go wrong at any point."
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