"Those last two weeks I got to be with her were probably the most profound two weeks of my life," said Garfield.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on November 24, 2021. It has since been updated.
Andrew Garfield lost his mom Lynn in 2019 to cancer, but he believes that he doesn't have to get over the grief of losing someone who meant everything to him.
The Amazing Spider-Man actor, 38, stopped by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where he spoke about death and the grief that accompanies it. "I love talking about her, by the way, so if I cry, it's only a beautiful thing," Garfield told Colbert, reports PEOPLE. "This is all the unexpressed love, the grief that will remain with us until we pass because we never get enough time with each other, no matter if someone lives until 60, 15, or 99."
"So I hope this grief stays with me because it's all the unexpressed love that I didn't get to tell her," the Oscar nominee continued. "And I told her every day. We all told her every day, she was the best of us."
In September 2021, the actor opened up to Variety about his mom and losing her to cancer. He described her as "the purest angel". Garfield had only recently learned of her diagnosis prior to going to North Carolina to shoot his film, The Eyes of Tammy Faye and was hesitant to leave, he said but did so only because his mom encouraged him.
"She said, 'I would struggle with you not doing it on account of me.' I told her, 'OK, but promise me when it's time to come home you'll let me know,'" Garfield recalled. But, during filming in late 2019, that time came, and with support from his costar Jessica Chastain and Searchlight Pictures co-chief David Greenbaum, he went back home to England just so he could be by her side.
"The good news about me and her is that we left nothing unsaid," Garfield reflected. "We had all the quality time we could possibly have while she was here. And those last two weeks I got to be with her were probably the most profound two weeks of my life."
He continued, "To be with her and my dad and my brother, all of her friends, my nephews. It was full of grace in the midst of the terrible tragedy."
In another interview with GQ, Garfield also addressed the sudden loss of his mother. “I find spiritual pursuit to be the only pursuit, really, for me, and that’s with my work and otherwise,” he said, adding that his parent’s death only strengthened that perspective. “There’s an acute awareness of just the ephemeral nature of this. And that is what gives it all meaning. I think the consideration of what’s going on behind everything is the only thing I’m interested in.”
References:
https://www.gq.com/story/andrew-garfields-answered-prayers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=_u_TswLQ4ws&feature=emb_logo
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Jeff Spicer