Michael Palin, 79, shares the secret to a happy marriage… as his wife Helen dies

Michael Palin has shared the secret to a happy marriage and remembered meeting his partner Helen for the first time in resurfaced comments after his wife’s death.

The Monty Python star, 79, announced on Tuesday that his wife of 57, Helen, had sadly passed away after battling chronic pain and kidney failure.

The childhood sweethearts first met when they were just 16 years old during a summer vacation and got married years later in 1966 when they were in their twenties.

During their 57 years of marriage, they welcomed three children together – Thomas, 54, William, 52, and Rachel, 48 – and also have four grandchildren.

Michael has previously offered insight into his marriage to Helen, with his loving comments resurfacing following the devastating news of his wife’s death.

In 2015, the actor opened up about the secret of a happy marriage, saying that it is nothing physical, but just wanting to spend time together.

He told The Telegraph: ‘What is really important in a relationship, what is most important? Sex, going to the theater, having lots of friends or whatever?

“None of that matters, there’s something underneath that works, that you want to spend a lot of time with someone.”

“The more time you spend together, the more things you have to share, the less likely you are to want to throw all that away,” he added, emphasizing the importance of having different interests in a marriage.

Elsewhere in the interview, Michael recalls the moment he first met Helen when they were both 16 years old and on holiday in Southwold, Suffolk.

He explained how their families stayed in neighboring cottages and they soon struck up a romance, before rekindling their flame years later in college.

Recalling their first meeting, the loving husband described Helen as a “vision of rebellion” when he first saw her during their holiday by the sea.

But the pair did not live near each other, as Michael lived in Sheffield while Helen was in Cambridgeshire, but they kept in touch by writing letters and met the following summer.

They were then reunited again on Michael’s first day at Oxford University, where Helen was visiting her boyfriend for the weekend, and fate brought them together.

Recalling the “extraordinary” reunion, Michael said, “You can see that fate was spinning us really hard at the time.”

The childhood sweethearts incredibly tied the knot in 1966 and welcomed three children together, as well as four grandchildren.

Michael also reflected on his day-to-day marriage to wife Helen while speaking to MailOnline in 2012.

He told how he collects stamps, drinks sensibly, jogs daily on Hampstead Heath and would rather run up and down Oxford Street with his underpants on his head than cheat on Helen.

Gushing about his wife, he said, “I was lucky enough to find someone early on, when I was a teenager, who I got on really well and still get on really well with. It works a little better as it progresses. You build up layers of experience.’

Michael also shared how his wife has always been supportive of his love of travel, which he incorporated into his career with his 2020 TV show Travels of a Lifetime.

He said, “Helen has always been very tolerant of my travels. If she said, “You should stay home,” all she would do was have a frustrated man in the kitchen kicking chairs and looking at atlases.

“So she’s always been really happy to let me go. I see no reason to break up such an extraordinary relationship. I don’t like a life that is tense and uncomfortable. I’m restless in other ways – work-wise.”

While Michael began a career in comedy and acting, Helen worked as a teacher before becoming a grief counselor.

He described her as the “foundation of my life” and said her death was an “indescribable loss” to himself and their three children – Thomas, William and Rachel.

On Tuesday, Michael announced the sad news that his wife Helen had passed away just weeks after they celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary.

The Monty Python star shared how Helen had suffered from chronic pain for a few years and was diagnosed with kidney failure before her death.

Michael announced the news on his blog, shared a selfie of them together and wrote: ‘My dearest wife Helen passed away peacefully in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

“She had been suffering from chronic pain for several years, which was exacerbated by a kidney failure diagnosis a few years ago.

‘We first met on a summer holiday on the Suffolk coast when we were both sixteen and we got married in our early twenties. Two and a half weeks ago we celebrated our 57th wedding anniversary.

“Her death is an indescribable loss to myself, our three children and four grandchildren.

“Helen was the foundation of my life. Her quiet wise judgment was the basis of all my decisions and her humor and practical common sense were at the heart of our life together.

“The family asks that their privacy be respected at this time.”

Last September, Michael spoke about Helen’s poor health when he mentioned that she had been transferred to respite care from the home they had shared for 50 years.

He explained that she had not responded to medications for her chronic pain, saying they moved her to help her “manage” her symptoms.

The comedian told the Telegraph at the time, “I don’t think you can cure it, but they will help her deal with it.”

‘It’s so boring. She was so active and still is mentally. But the body deteriorates. We live life with our fingers crossed.”

Michael is best known as a member of the comedy group Monty Python alongside Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle and Terry Jones.

They rose to fame in the sketch comedy series Monty Python’s Flying Circus and achieved success with the Monty Python film series – including 1975’s Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

The comedic genius also won a BAFTA Award for his role as Ken Pile in the 1980s cult film A Fish Called Wanda.