Late Actress, a Beloved '90s Icon, Would Have Been 63 Today
Today marks the birthday of late actress Natasha Richardson.
The beloved '90s star would have been celebrating her 63rd birthday on Monday, had her life not been tragically cut short. She was born on May 11, 1963, making her 45 years old at the time of her death in 2009.
Richardson, who is most well-known for her role in the 1998 cult classic film The Parent Trap, died unexpectedly in March 2009 after sustaining a fatal brain injury while on a ski trip in Canada.
She was on family vacation in Quebec, Canada, with her two sons, Michaél and Daniel, while her husband, Liam Neeson, was filming a movie in Toronto. On March 16, 2009, Richardson was taking a private lesson with an instructor at the Mont Tremblant ski resort when she fell and hit her head on the beginner's trail. She was briefly examined by the ski patrol members, but declined to seek further medical attention, the resort previously said in a statement to CNN.
Despite initially seeming fine, Richardson, who wasn't wearing a helmet at the time of the fall, had actually suffered a serious brain injury, specifically an epidural hematoma.
In the 48 hours after the incident, Richardson's condition worsened, and she died two days later on March 18, 2009.
At the time of her tragic death, Richardson's sons were 13 and 12 years old. Neeson, whom she had been married to since 1994, flew from Toronto to be with his wife at the hospital in Montreal, before she was brought to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, where she later died.
"[Her death] was never real. It still kind of isn't," Neeson previously told Anderson Cooperon 60 Minutes back in 2014. "There [are] periods now in our New York residence when I hear the door opening, especially the first couple of years…anytime I hear that door opening, I still think I'm going to hear her."
Related: Dennis Quaid Says His 'Heart Breaks' Every Time He Watches 'The Parent Trap'
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This story was originally published May 11, 2026 at 6:08 AM.