Vanessa Redgrave shares birthday tribute to late daughter Natasha

Vanessa Redgrave has sent a rare public message about her late daughter, Natasha Richardson, on what would have been her 62nd birthday.

Redgrave shared an anecdote about Natasha, who died in 2009, via her other daughter Joely’s Instagram account.

Joely wrote that she had asked her mother “if she’d like to say anything” publicly to mark Natasha’s birthday.

“This is what she dictated to me,” Joely began.

“We were in Greece. We sat drinking our coffees in Constitution Square. Tony (Richardson, Natasha’s father) said if the baby was a boy we should call him Tom. I said if she was a girl I would like her to be called Natasha after Tolstoy’s War and Peace.

“Our Natasha, as yes she was a girl, came swimming out of my womb ready for anything.

“I can’t believe that she isn’t swimming somewhere now, in one of the pools or seas we explored. I will never be reconciled to her dying in the snow, and I’m sure that every mother who has lost a child will have that pain always,” the Oscar-winner added.

Natasha died after a ski accident during a holiday with her husband, Liam Neeson, and their two sons, Micheál, now 29, and Daniel, 28.

Natasha was a Tony Award-winning actress who was known for her roles in movies such as The Parent Trap, Maid in Manhattan and Asylum.