Liam Neeson has praised his son’s decision to change his surname to Richardson to honour his late mother.
The ‘Taken’ actor’s son Micheál paid "a lovely homage" to his late mother Natasha Richardson – who Liam was married to until her sad death in 2009 – and decided to take on her surname and praised the "nice gesture".
Speaking to SiriusXM, he said: "I think he did the right thing. I think it was a lovely homage, a nice gesture and he’s, you know, he’s not saddled with my last name which, I have a certain celebrity status I guess. I’d hate for him to be constantly asked, ‘Oh are you Liam Neeson’s son.’ So, it was a lovely gesture. Natasha’s family, mother and sisters were very touched by it, as indeed I was too."
Meanwhile, Michael previously admitted his father Liam shied away from grieving after Natasha’s death.
The 25-year-old actor said: "I think what’s important about this film is that it acknowledges how easily one can shy away from the grieving process. It’s so painful to deal with losing somebody close to you in your life and sometimes the easiest thing to do is shove it under the carpet and not want to talk about it. That’s what dad did in real life."
Michael also revealed that he is still trying to "figure out" how to grieve his mother’s death.
He explained: "There’s not any one way of grieving and I’m still trying to figure it out myself. But if I could pass on a piece of helpful information, I’d say it’s by keeping them in your mind and honouring them in small ways and the little things about them that you can process the grief."