Liam Neeson Confesses He 'Fell in Love' With a Woman Who Was 'Taken'

Liam Neeson "fell in love" on the set of his new film Blacklight, but he didn't find his happy ending. The actor, 69, opened up about his "taken" love while talking about his film and making the movie on the Australian morning show Sunrise, sharing that his feelings weren't reciprocated, unfortunately.

"I loved Melbourne, I loved our Australian crew," Neeson said. "Every department was superb but they were their own people, do you know what I mean?" He continued, "I made a couple of pals and fell in love once while I was there, but she was taken." The Taken star didn't expand on what happened there, but added, "I look forward to going back, I really do."

Neeson was previously married to actress Natasha Richardson, tying the knot with The Parent Trap star in 1994. The two would go on to welcome two sons together – Micheál, 26, and Daniel, 25 – before Richardson tragically died in 2009 after suffering a severe head injury while skiing in Canada. 

Neeson was also previously linked romantically to Helen Mirren, whom he dated in the '80s after meeting on the set of the film Excalibur. In 2018, the stars both appeared on The Graham Norton Show and opened up about their past romance. "We didn't date, we lived together for four years – we were a serious item for a while," said Mirren at the time. "Lucky me!"

Neeson added during the interview that it was love at first sight when he first saw Mirren. "I remember being on the set and standing with Ciarán Hinds as Helen walked towards us dressed in her full Morgana Le Fey costume and we both went, 'Oh f—," he recalled. "I was smitten. I think Ciarán was too, but I was very smitten!" Mirren replied at the time, "I never knew that. You've never told me that before – it's amazing." 

Neeson added he could tell Mirren reciprocated those feelings based on a little intel he had before working with the star. "Before I met her and we worked together, I had read somewhere that if she fancied a guy she would imitate his walk behind his back and I turned around one day and she was doing that to me," he said.