Richard E Grant's wife Joan Washington has died at the age of 72.
Actor Richard, 64, announced the sad news on social media as he paid tribute to his wife of 35 years.
Alongside a clip of him and Joan dancing, he tweeted: "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."
He added six heartbroken emojis to the footage that seemed to have been captured at the husband and wife's Middlesex home.
Loki star Richard did not reveal what the cause of Joan's passing was.
Below the post, several fans of the Star Wars actor sent him messages of sympathy.
One penned: "So terribly sad to hear that my favourite British actor the incomparable REG has lost his beloved Joan. With him from the start. I remember in vivid detail their pain and then joy in the amazing book “ With Nails” I can’t “ like” this post as it’s just heartbreaking for them."
A second added: "I’m so sorry for your loss, Richard. X"
A third wrote: "My sincerest condolences to you and your entire family for your tragic loss. These are the most difficult times in everyone’s lives. RIP Joan."
Richard married Joan in 1986 after he proposed to her at Heathrow airport.
He took the plunge to pop the question following a solo trip to Africa for Christmas and confessed that he knew he had to make her his wife as he had missed her so much.
They tied the knot at a registry office shortly after as they did not want a big bash.
The couple met after Richard approached dialect coach Joan - who worked at the Royal National Theatre at the time - for accent lessons - she was married to another man at the time.
Richard recalled to the Independent in 2011: "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.
"I went to learn a Belfast accent from her and I then met her in this house, but she was still married to someone else. She was doing a play at the Royal Shakespeare Company and needed a black African accent. She told me that I was the only person she knew in London who could do this, and that I should come and make some tapes for her. I didn't go home that night. We found that we had a fair amount in common, and that we liked speaking a huge amount. She seemed very un-English in that way. We just got on instantly."
Joan and Richard shared a daughter named Olivia - who was born in 1989 six weeks early and with jaundice.
After they welcomed Olivia, Richard said he was happy to be a father to a daughter as he'd "prefer my wife to be her role model.”
Olivia was their miracle after their first child was stillborn.
Richard previously said: "Before we had Olivia, Joan and I had had another baby girl who was born at 27 weeks and only lived for half an hour because her lungs were underdeveloped. Joan also had multiple miscarriages and we were told not to try again. But she was very determined and said: 'I've seen how you are with Tom, I think fatherhood suits you. You're very good at it.'"
*If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at Sands (stillbirth and neonatal death charity). You can call them on 0808 164 3332 or email helpline@sands.org.uk
