Andrew Garfield Reveals the Blessing Found in Mourning His Mother

Andrew Garfield exudes generosity in his sorrow.

While grief is a deeply personal journey, Garfield's eloquent and heartfelt expressions of mourning for his mother, Linda, who succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 2019, offer a poignant connection and potential solace to those grappling with loss.

"My mother's most apparent traits were gentleness, kindness, and generosity," Garfield shared with CNN's Anderson Cooper during an insightful dialogue for the third season of the podcast "All There Is." "Even on her hospice bed, she was more concerned with the well-being of the nurses than with her own suffering. That's just who she was."

In a 2021 appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," which has garnered over 2 million views on YouTube, Garfield's raw vulnerability resonated with countless others mourning loved ones during the pandemic.

"I want this grief to remain with me because it's all the unspoken love I never got to express, although I told her every single day," Garfield said at the time. "She was the best of us."

Five years on, the grief lingers, as he wished.

"It's strange. The longing and the grief, fully embracing them, seem to be the only way I can feel close to her again," Garfield confided to Cooper.

It was his mother, whom Garfield described as creative and attuned to his teenage angst, who first encouraged him to pursue a career in the arts. When he ventured into acting, which he humorously likened to "joining the circus," he felt at home. Since then, he's amassed numerous film and TV roles, two Oscar nominations, and even a superhero franchise.

Garfield's recent endeavor, the tearful and romantic "We Live in Time," revisits the theme of grief. He stars alongside Florence Pugh as a young couple confronting a cancer diagnosis.

"The awareness of time being fleeting and conditional makes every moment feel sacred, whether tiny or expansive," Garfield remarked about the film's narrative. "It's a meditation on life's brevity and sanctity, with every scene steeped in grief. It's a beautiful film, a beautiful experience, meditative, wise, and filled with rage against the dying light."

Despite the changes in his life, Garfield's light endures as he navigates a world without his cherished British "mum."

"I know for certain that life is short, and what mattered before no longer holds significance. Now, things taste sweeter because of the sorrow I've felt, yet they can also taste more bitter," Garfield shared with Cooper. "My perception of the world, the politics, the culture, our global community, can evoke more bitterness, sourness, anger, and rage. I can delve into my despair more deeply, my hopelessness, but equally, I find a far deeper well of hope."

Garfield has discovered hope and support through friendships, nature, and the creative path his mother set him on.

"Grief and loss are the only pathways to the vitality of being alive," Garfield observed. "The wound is the only route to the gift.