Michael Palin reveals his late wife Helen’s clothes are ‘still in the cupboard’ over a year after her death to make it feel like she’s ‘still here’

Michael Palin has heartbreakingly admitted that his late wife Helen Gibbins’ clothes are still hanging ‘in the cupboard’ as they make it feel as if she was ‘still here’. 

The Monty Python star, 81, announced Helen had sadly passed away following a battle with chronic pain and kidney failure on May 2 last year, just weeks after they marked their 57th wedding anniversary.

He described her as the ‘bedrock of my life’ and said her death was an ‘indescribable loss’ for himself and their three children – Thomas, 55, William, 53, and Rachel, 49. 

And now, over a year since his agonising loss, Michael told how he likes to see her belongings around their home as it reminds him of the time they spend together, with the star adding that it’s the reason he will never move.

Speaking in an interview with The Times, Michael said on the possibility of moving: ‘I don’t feel that way – at the moment, anyway. Everything around me has a story or something that reminds me of time we spent together, not in a maudlin way. Just they are the props of your life. Get rid of all those props and I’d be in a different play, playing a different character. And I don’t want to do that.

The Monty Python star, 81, announced Helen had sadly passed away following a battle with chronic pain and kidney failure on May 2 last year, just weeks after they marked their 57th wedding anniversary [pictured in 2015]

‘I know it seems odd, but I carry on as though Helen is still here. Her clothes are still in the cupboards. I don’t want to change my life, because I feel she wouldn’t want that either. It’s still a nice house to come back to. I feel her presence here.’  

The childhood sweethearts met when they were 16 and married in 1966, marking their 57th wedding anniversary weeks before Helen passed away. 

Michael and Helen met when they were both on summer holidays in Southwold, Suffolk, where they were staying in neighbouring cottages with their families. 

After almost six decades of marriage to the love of his life, Michael went on to say that he couldn’t imaging starting a relationship with anyone new as he was still ‘bereft’ over losing Helen.

He shared: ‘I shared my life with someone for so long that I find it impossible to think of sharing it in the same way with anyone else again. So in a way, I’m sort of freer.’

The TV personality said he found it ‘odd’ with her not around, especially when coming home from the theatre or dinner and wanting to tell her about his experience. 

He added that he misses ‘the little things’ about their relationship, adding that he still finds it ‘very difficult’ without her – especially when it comes to cooking.

In the same interview, Michael also opened up about his own mortality, admitting he’s ‘not worried’ about death as ‘it’s going to happen sometime soon’ anyway.

Michael noted that he’s got many interests including his book research which makes him ‘forget about mortality’ 

Michael told how he likes to see her belongings around their home as it reminds him of the time they spend together, with the star adding that it’s the reason he will never move [pictured in 2009]

”I know it seems odd, but I carry on as though Helen is still here. Her clothes are still in the cupboards. I don’t want to change my life, because I feel she wouldn’t want that either’

The childhood sweethearts met when they were 16 and married in 1966, marking their 57th wedding anniversary weeks before Helen passed away [pictured in 1986]

It comes after Michael heartbreakingly admitted he misses the ‘reassurance’ that his late wife Helen Gibbins gave him during an appearance on Lorraine in April. 

Speaking to Lorraine Kelly, Michael said: ‘It would have been our 58th anniversary. I find myself looking for reassurance she was terribly good at telling me what I should do and what I shouldn’t do. 

‘She knew what I liked and when I was happy with work, rather than getting into something I didn’t like – so I do miss that.’

The actor continued:  ‘I miss the jokes that we used to have together. I mean it would be our 58th anniversary and every anniversary we used to try and do something with increasing incredulity… That humour, I do miss a lot.

‘I knew Helen for 60 years and no-one else in my life have I known for such a long time. In that time you build up so many experiences, so many mutual experiences that you just don’t need to make a big thing out of it.’

It comes after Michael heartbreakingly admitted he misses the ‘reassurance’ that his late wife Helen Gibbins gave him during an appearance on Lorraine in April 

‘I miss the jokes that we used to have together. I mean it would be our 58th anniversary and every anniversary we used to try and do something with increasing incredulity… That humour, I do miss a lot’

Speaking ahead of his new Channel 5 show, Michael Palin in Nigeria, he explained how he felt he ‘had to keep on working’ because Helen would have wanted him to go on. 

He continued: ‘You can’t say, “Everything stops now, I am just going to live for the past” – you have to go on. I am lucky because I do get some work and I get to go round the world and be paid for it, which is terrific, and I want to continue to do that if I can. 

‘It puts you in touch with human life but also gives me physical and mental energy which is really important for your morale.

‘We’d love to do another journey. I’d go with the little group anywhere really.’