Helen Mirren loves ex Liam Neeson ‘deeply to this day’ but ‘not meant to be’

Helen Mirren is still madly in love with her ex-boyfriend Liam Neeson.

In a new AARP The Magazine cover story published Tuesday, Mirren, 77, opened up about her past romance with the “Taken” actor. In the 1980s, they dated for five years.

During the interview, Mirren discussed her love of sewing and admitted that she “went through a phase of making men’s shirts.” She created t-shirts for all her boyfriends, including Peter O’Toole and her husband, director Taylor Hackford.

Before reflecting on their relationship, the actress revealed that she had one made for Neeson.

She told the magazine:

“I did make one for Liam, oddly enough. We loved each other. We were not meant to be together in that way, but we loved each other very, very much. I love him deeply to this day. He’s such an amazing guy.”

Neeson and Mirren met on the 1981 film “Excalibur” set and began dating soon after. Years after their divorce, they reunited on “The Graham Norton Show” in 2018, revisiting their past romance.

During the interview, the “Good Liar” actress stated that she considers herself “lucky” to have worked with Neeson.

Mirren said:

“We didn’t date, we lived together for four years – we were a serious item for a while. Lucky me!”

On the talk show, the “Run All Night” actor also revealed how he discovered she had a crush on him while filming.

Neeson said:

“Before I met her and we worked together, I had read somewhere that if she fancied a guy, she would imitate his walk behind his back and I turned around one day and she was doing that to me.”

Neeson admitted earlier this year that he fell in love with a woman in Australia while filming “Blacklight.” She was, however, already taken.

Neeson made the remarks on the Australian morning show “Sunrise.”:

“I loved Melbourne, I loved our Australian crew. Every department was superb, but they were their own people, do you know what I mean?”

He added:

“I made a couple of pals and fell in love once while I was there, but she was taken.”

Neeson’s admission was notable because he has not publicly dated since the death of his wife, actress Natasha Richardson, in 2009.

Neeson discussed his late wife’s sudden death with Anderson Cooper in 2014. She died from brain bleeding after falling and hitting her head in a skiing accident in Quebec, Canada.

He said:

“She was on life support…I went in to her and I told her I loved her. I said, ‘Sweetie, you’re not coming back from this, you’ve banged your head.’ She and I had made a pact, if any of us got into a vegetative state that we’d pull the plug. That was my immediate thought, ‘Okay, these tubes have to go. She’s gone.'”

Neeson and Richardson married in 1994 and have two sons, Michael (26), and Daniel (25).

In 1997, Mirren married Hackford. They don’t have any children, but she is a stepmother to his two sons, Alexander, 43, and Rio, who died in April.