Richard E. Grant is among the star-studded line-up entering the castle for the second season of The Celebrity Traitors, aiming to win up to £100,000 for his chosen charity. The 69-year-old actor, known for his roles in Loki, Game of Thrones, and Saltburn, joins Miranda Hart, James Blunt, Jerry Hall, Michael Sheen and 16 more famous faces.
Richard is a household name thanks to his illustrious acting career, but how much do you know about his life off-camera? Find out all about the actor's family life here, including his late wife and casting director daughter.
© CREDIT LINE:BBC/Studio Lambert/Cody Burridge/BBC CreativeWho was Richard E. Grant's wife?
Richard E. Grant married voice coach Joan Washington in 1986.
© Copyright Nick HarveyAfter experiencing the stillbirth of their first child, they welcomed their daughter Olivia in January 1989. The Gosford Park actor is also a stepfather to Joan's son, Tom, from a previous relationship.
Joan, who hailed from Aberdeen, trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and worked as a voice and dialect coach for nearly 40 years, working with stars including Penelope Cruz, Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, Vanessa Redgrave and Emma Stone.
Richard and Joan's daughter, Olivia, followed her parents' footsteps into the entertainment industry as a casting director, and in 2024, founded her own company, Olivia Grant Casting. Her credits include Kate Winslet's directorial debut Goodbye June, Ti West's forthcoming feature film Ebenezer, starring Johnny Depp, and Julia Jackman's film 100 Nights of Hero.
Olivia and her husband, the financier Florian Herbst, welcomed their first child in June 2026.
© Dave Benett/Getty ImagesJoan Washington's death
Joan died in September 2021 at the age of 74, eight months after she was diagnosed with lung cancer.
Reflecting on his wife's final days during a candid interview with Davina McCall on her Begin Again podcast, Richard revealed he was by her bedside when she passed away at their home.
© AFP via Getty Images"On the day that she died, I was sitting, talking to her all day… holding her hand, and then I felt that at about ten past seven her hand was starting to get colder and thought, 'This must be the end,'" he shared. "And then at seven thirty, twenty minutes later, she died."
"A conversation that began in bed in January 1983 then stopped 38 years later on the 2nd of September 2021, still talking and still holding each other's hands," he continued. "To have had that with one human being and to be completely seen by someone else—I think it's the greatest gift that you can have. The greatest intimacy."
Richard's life after Joan's death
Richard currently lives with his daughter Olivia and her husband. Speaking to HELLO! in September last year, the actor revealed that three years after Joan's death, the couple asked to come and live in his London home with their cat. "We see one another every day, cook together and live a communal life, sharing everything, yet maintaining independence within that," he shared.
Opening up about his grief during a 2022 interview with the Mail on Sunday's You magazine, Richard said: "Like the weather, it changes a lot every hour. Something can trigger you completely unexpectedly.
© Getty"You'll be standing in the supermarket and just have to crumple because something has reminded you," he continued. "Or you see somebody that you haven't seen for a while who you then have to console as they're upset because they have just heard what’s happened to my wife.
"So I think you don't get over grief – and I know this from the death of our first child – but you go around it. It's a daily navigation."
