10 Stars Who Tragically Lost Their Partners

“He’s my husband, and he’ll always be.”

Dealing with the sudden loss of a loved one is an inconceivable heartache that no one ever wants to experience. When that loss is a husband, wife or life partner, the grief can be profound. Mourning their passing is an incredibly difficult time -- and having to manage that while being in the public eye can only make things more challenging. For celebrities who have lost significant others, they’re all too familiar with publicly dealing with their loss. And while it is a difficult experience, many of these stars have bravely opened up about dealing with their grief, even years later.

Read on to find out whose partners passed on…

1. Sandra Bullock

In 2023, Sandra Bullock lost her longtime partner Bryan Randall who “passed away peacefully” after his private three year battle with ALS. While dealing with the disease, Bryan had asked friends and family to keep it to themselves so they had tried their best to honor his request. Although Sandra has not yet publicly spoken about Bryan’s death, her sister alluded that the pair had spread Bryan’s ashes at a local river.

“Happy birthday, Bry. Sandy brought you to the river, just as she promised,” Sandra’s sister Gesine wrote on Instagram .

2. Celine Dion

In early 2016, Celine Dion lost her husband of over 20 years , René Angélil , following a battle with throat cancer. René, who had managed Celine from the time she was just a young teenager, shared three children with the iconic singer. Before his passing, René had dealt with three bouts of cancer, ultimately passing away surrounded by friends and family at home.

“Losing my husband, for my kids to lose their father, it was quite something,” Celine said on the Today show . “I feel like René has given me so much through the years and still today. I see my kids. I look at them -- we live with him. We still live with him. He's part of our lives every day, so I have to say that I feel very, very strong.”

3. Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson tragically lost his wife Natasha Richardson when she unexpectedly passed away following a skiing accident. Back in 2009, Natasha had been taking a ski lesson on a beginner slope when she fell and hit her head. While the injury seemed minor at first and she refused to be taken to the hospital, her symptoms eventually got worse. She was evacuated to a hospital where it was discovered she had suffered a traumatic brain injury. She later passed away.

Liam didn’t speak about Natasha’s death for years, even in 2014 admitting that it still didn’t feel real to him. To this day, Liam says he visits her grave site and speaks with her daily.

"Grief’s like -- it hits you. It’s like a wave,” Liam said on 60 Minutes . “You just get this profound feeling of instability. You feel like a three-legged table. Just suddenly…the Earth isn’t stable anymore. And then it passes and becomes more infrequent, but I still get it sometimes.”

4. Lea Michele

Lea Michele was dating her Glee co-star Cory Monteith at the time of his death due to accidental mixed drug toxicity, involving heroin and alcohol. Just months prior, Cory had completely a rehab stay but unfortunately relapsed. Since his passing in 2013, Lea has honored her late ex every year and has even gotten several tattoos dedicated to him.

“I only have happy memories of Cory. He was not his addiction -- unfortunately, it won,” she told Seventeen . “But that wasn’t who he was. Cory made me feel like a queen every day. From the minute he said, ‘I’m your boyfriend,’ I loved every day, and I thank him for being the best boyfriend and making me feel so beautiful.”

5. Allison Holker

Allison Holker was married to her husband Stephen “tWitch” Boss for almost a decade when he unexpectedly died by suicide in 2022. She later shared that he had kept his mental health struggle a secret and “no one had any inkling that he was low.” Looking back, she said that he didn’t want anyone to know what was going on and just wanted to be “everyone’s Superman and protector.”

“[I’m] full of very convoluted feelings and conflicting emotions where sometimes I’m just really joyous and happy and then other times I’m really angry and sad, and full of all these different confusing feelings that are all at the same time,” she said on The Jennifer Hudson Show .

She continued, “Then I decide at the end of the day for my children and myself that I'm going to make sure I choose the right energy for myself. So I choose love and joy, and to remember him as the amazing human that he is and celebrate him with my kids. And still celebrate life because I feel like there’s so much purpose and love out there for us to experience.”

6. John Travolta

In 2020, John Travolta ’s wife Kelly Preston lost her two year battle with breast cancer. Reflecting on the past few years without Kelly, John stressed the importance of giving yourself time to privately grieve without always trying to be the support system for everyone else.

“I learned that mourning someone, living in grief, is very personal. Grief is personal and finding your own path is what could lead to healing. It's different than someone else’s journey,” John told Esquire Mexico . “The most important thing you can do to help people going through grief is allow them the space to live it and not complicate their journey with your own.”

He continued, “You have no idea how many people have come up to me…and afterward I’ve felt saturated with everyone else’s pain that I didn’t know what to do. The first thing you should do while going through grief is go somewhere where you can truly mourn, with no interruptions.”

7. Kellie Pickler

Kellie Pickler ’s husband of over a decade, Kyle Jacobs , died by suicide in early 2023. While she’s remained very private since his passing, she did share how thankful she was for supportive friends, family and fans.

“One of the most beautiful lessons my husband taught me was in a moment of a crisis, if you don’t know what to do, ‘do nothing, just be still.’ I have chosen to heed his advice,” she told People . “Thank you to my family, friends, and supporters, for the countless letters, calls, and messages that you have sent my way. It has truly touched my soul and it’s helping me get through the darkest time in my life. As many of you have told me, you are all in my prayers.”

8. Terri Irwin

Terri Irwin tragically lost her husband Steve Irwin in 2006 when he was unexpectedly and fatally pierced in the chest by a stingray barb. Terri and the two children she shared with Steve, Bindi and Robert, often pay tribute to the late conservationist. Even over a decade after his passing, Terri says she is still often struck by grief.

“Grief hits you at the most bizarre times. So, I might be talking to biology students and it will remind me of Steve and I will burst into tears,” she said on Anh’s Brush With Fame . “You don’t ever get over grief. It changes, but you never wake up one morning and go, ‘Oh, I’m done with that.’ That was the challenge in the journey after Steve died.”

9. Patton Oswalt

Patton Oswalt ’s journalist wife Michelle McNamara unexpectedly died in her sleep in 2016 due to an undiagnosed heart condition and complications from medication. Following her passing, Patton says he can be randomly hit with grief -- like when cheesy love songs play.

“A lot of times with grief, it’s not that you can plan what to avoid and what to go to. Memories can ambush you. And you get used to that. The plans and contingencies I make don’t matter. This thing is going to have its way with me one way or another,” he told Vulture . “I’m waking up every day and living. It’s hard to describe it as ‘healing.’ It’s more like you’re evolving. You know, you never truly heal. But you do evolve into someone different, someone who can still live life and experience joy.”

10. Iman

In 2016, Iman ’s husband David Bowie died less than two years after being diagnosed with liver cancer. Iman says that she believes “grief does not have [an] expiration date” so she chooses to remember “beautiful things, instead of running away from them”  in order to deal with the pain of his loss.

“I think of him all the time. People say ‘your late husband’ and I say, ‘Don’t call my husband late. He’s not my late husband. He’s my husband, and he’ll always be,’” Iman said on an episode of Today Show Radio . “If there is an afterlife, I’d like to see my husband again. That’s the one I want.”