Richard E Grant has revealed he was left 'devastated' by a 'toxic' betrayal from a former best friend of 30 years, which led him to cut her out of his life. The 68-year-old Saltburn star discovered her true feelings when he was accidentally copied into an email she sent to a mutual friend, containing extremely rude remarks about his work.
Speaking on Paloma Faith's podcast Mad Sad Bad, Grant said: 'I thought [she] was one of the five best friends of my life.' He described a paragraph of 'such toxicity' that 'annihilated' an autobiographical script he had written. 'I was absolutely devastated,' he said, adding that he copied and pasted the paragraph and sent it back to her, asking: 'Twenty-nine years of friendship?'
Grant's daughter Olivia advised him, saying: 'In your heart of hearts, haven't you always known this about this person?' She added: 'You've taken too long to answer, I think you've always known.'
The revelation comes after Grant admitted he 'hasn't really thought about' finding a new partner since the death of his wife Joan in 2021. Speaking to The Sunday Times Culture Magazine, he said: 'The idea of being 67 and three quarters and taking my kit off is so mortifying... I'm hopeful-minded and open-hearted but I'm not looking for it.'
Grant, who lives with his daughter and her husband, said he does not feel 'lonely'. He previously shared that his wife, dialect coach Joan, who died of lung cancer aged 74, had ruled out eligible women for him before her death. 'She was hilarious,' he recalled on The Lulu Podcast. 'A month before she died, she went through all the women... and gave me a reason why I shouldn't pursue any of them.'
