Richard E Grant today thanked well-wishers for their support after the death of his wife Joan at the age of 71 after 35 years of marriage - as he said grief had hit him 'like a tsunami'.
The actor, 64, shared a montage of family photos on Twitter with the message: 'Overwhelmed by the messages of love, condolence & support we have received from loved ones & strangers from all over the world & the appreciation from actors Joan taught over the years.
'Grief hits us like tsunamis as we try and put one foot in front of the other without her.'
Joan, a voice coach from Aberdeen, met Grant at the start of his career in 1986 and the pair have been together ever since.
The Withnail and I star revealed Joan passed away on Friday in an emotional tribute that included a video of the pair dancing together and laughing before they embraced along to the song Only You by The Platters.
Richard wrote: 'ONLY YOU! Joan - Love of my Life & Giver of Life to our daughter Olivia.
'Our hearts are broken with the loss of your Life last night. 35 years married & 38 together.
'To be truly known and seen by you, is your immeasurable gift. Do not forget us, sweet Monkee-mine.'
The pair had overcome tragedy in their life and spoke publicly about how their first child together sadly died after just half an hour.
Joan had suffered multiple miscarriages but had been determined they would keep trying after seeing how good her husband had been with her son from a previous relationship Tom.
Then in 1989 she fell pregnant with daughter Olivia after telling him 'Fatherhood suits you. You're very good at it'.
The actor, 64, shared a montage of family photos on Twitter with a sweet message. Right: Grant and Joan attend the EE British Academy Film Awards at Royal Albert Hall
Joan Washington, daughter Olivia Grant and Richard E Grant smile happily this family picture taken back in 2007
Richard and Joan pictured with Olivia at the film premiere of Spiceworld, which Richard had played a role
Richard wrote online 'To be truly known and seen by you, is your immeasurable gift. Do not forget us, sweet Monkee-mine.'
Washington, from Aberdeen, trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and had nearly 40 years' experience in the film industry as a voice and dialect coach, working with stars including Anne Hathaway, Vanessa Redgrave and Emma Stone.
Among her early projects in the mid-80s were Yentl starring Barbra Streisand, Highlander, and The Bounty, featuring Mel Gibson and Sir Anthony Hopkins.
Recent years saw her work on features such as The Witches, where she coached Hathaway for the part of the Grand High Witch, and Yorgos Lanthimos' black comedy The Favourite, where she worked with Stone.
In a joint interview with the Independent in 2011, Grant recalled them meeting for the first time.
He said: 'I met her at the Actors' Centre in London. She was wearing a boiler suit and had fairly short, cropped hair and Kicker shoes, and was chain-smoking, which I thought was insane.
'She was teaching an accent session with a bunch of actors, and I thought she had the most wonderful voice and huge, sort of monkey eyes. She seemed fairly frenetic.
'I thought that she was really cute and all that. It was December 1982.'
The actor has previously admitted he had not considered getting married until he had met her.
