Inside Helen Mirren's Enduring Marriage with Husband Taylor Hackford

Actress Helen Mirren is happily married to director Taylor Hackford: Inside the pair's 24-year-long marriage: Complete story here!

Widely known and celebrated for her work on stage and screen, Helen Mirren is a veteran actress, whose career has been a major staple in the entertainment industry for over five decades. Through her expansive work across various genres, from Shakespearean comedies, and drama, to action films, Mirren has garnered a host of prestigious accolades, including an Academy, a BAFTA, four Primetime Emmys, and more. Some of her best-known credits are The Madness of King George, The Queen, Last Station, and Trumbo.  

Born Helen Lydia Mironoff on July 26, 1945, in Hammersmith, London, she developed and honed her penchant for arts early. By 20, Mirren landed a coveted role in the National Youth Theatre's production of Antony and Cleopatra, which paved the way to get into the Royal Shakespeare Company. Helen became a national treasure in her 20s but the desired international stardom only followed her as she reached her 40s.  

Inside Helen Mirren's Married Life with Taylor Hackford!   

Aside from her illustrious and still thriving career in the entertainment industry (at 77, Mirren is actively working in movies and is set to star in the much-anticipated Shazam! Fury of the God), the Oscar winner is known for her enduring marriage with fellow Oscar winner, director-actor Taylor Hackford. The Last Station actress was in her prime when she started dating Hackford in 1986. The pair met on the sets of Hackford-directed White Nights.  

Mirren and Hackford were together for eleven years before tying the knot in 1997 in Scotland. The Trumbo actress revealed her priorities shifted after she started dating the director. "I did very consciously choose my work over my relationships right up to the time that I met Taylor. I was 38 when I met Taylor, pretty late in life," Mirren shared. Helen always knew marriage wasn't her cup of tea, so, when she did decide to finally get hitched to her long-term partner, it was more for a legal reason than anything else.    

"We got married, ultimately, for legal reasons," Mirren explained, adding, "estate planning and other complicated things like that. And our families, we sensed, wanted us to be married. I always said I have nothing against marriage; it just wasn't to my taste." Helen and her husband hardly comment on their personal lives and prefer things to stay out of the spotlight, but last year, the Long Good Friday actress did give her fans an insight into her married life.   

Appearing on the Graham Norton Show, Mirren reflected on her decades-long relationship with Hackford. The Oscar-winning actress revealed how the 2020 pandemic and the lockdown revamped their marriage. "For the first time in 30-odd years of marriage we sat at the table opposite each other and had dinner together every night for six months," Mirren said. Helen's theory about her long-lasting marriage is that because she met Hackford much later in her life, she was able to reckon with and acknowledge that he is the one.   

"The great thing about finding a partnership later on [in life] is that you recognize it as such," said the veteran actress. The long-married couple didn't welcome any kid of their own, although Mirren has been a stepmother to Taylor's two kids from his previous marriages. Hackford, 78, won an Oscar for his short film Teenage Father and was nominated for Oscar in the best director category for his biographical musical drama Ray. 

Why Helen Mirren Didn't Have Any Kids!  

Neither marriage nor motherhood was on Helen's bucket list, but life had other plans. The Madness of King George star not only delves into a blissful married life but also played a token mother to her husband's two kids, even though, Helen never became a mother herself. People might throw their opinion about how the actress has deprived herself or freed herself of parental duties, but Mirren doesn't care a bit about others' two pennies' worth.   

"It's not that I don't love children, they are funny and I just love them, but I never wanted to have them," said the actress. Further shedding light upon her consciously-made choice, Mirren says, "I think some men and women just don't have a deep urge to procreate." Hackford was first married to Georgie Lowres, with whom he welcomed his son, actor Rio Hackford, in 1970. 

Rio tragically died of cancer (uveal melanoma) in 2022, following which, Taylor and his wife released a statement, encouraging everyone to stay aware. (We) "are both inspired by the life of our son and stepson, Rio Hackford, and heartbroken by his loss," the couple said in their statement before adding, "his life showed us how to live in generosity and community. 

He shared his life's journey with so many who now mourn him." Hackford shares his second son, Alexander, with his second ex-wife Lynne Littman. Just like Tom, Mirren had experienced her share of romances before meeting her husband. Mirren dated actor Liam Neeson for four years and also had a long relationship with designer James Wedge.  

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