How Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson's Son Coped With His Mother's Death

     

The teenage son of Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson revealed for the first time how he descended into a "dark" world of alcohol and drug abuse following the tragic death of his mother in 2009. 

Micheál Neeson, 19, told UK's The Sunday Times that he had a "delayed reaction" to his mother's death.

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"In my mind, subconsciously, I either pushed it out or stored it deep inside," said Neeson, who was only 13 at the time of his mother's fatal fall during a beginner's ski lesson. "And so, within the next week I was like 'Okay, on with my life.'"

Instead of grieving, the teen hit the party scene, smoking marijuana and drinking heavily, he said.

"Last spring, things just started going downhill. The people I was with, we were partying a lot," he told the newspaper. "It was dark. I hit rock bottom."

With the help of friends and his family, including his "awesome grandma," Vanessa Redgrave -- and a stint in wilderness therapy, where he survived for months on dehydrated food in the Utah desert -- the 19-year-old got sober.