Natasha McElhone's touching tribute to her husband, Martin Kelly

"Californication" star Natascha McElhone's humanitarian surgeon husband, Martin Kelly, died suddenly last week from an undiagnosed heart condition. She is pregnant with their third child, another son.

Even if you don't know who she is - or who he was - her tribute to her husband, released to British papers, is worth reading. And she's right: She is a lucky woman.

"This is near impossible for me. Anything I want to say is from such a personal perspective and, even though it's no one's business, I do want the world to know how incredible this man was.

"I'm hesitant, also, because we live in a world of superlatives, and words like 'incredible' have become hollow and meaningless, which is everything my husband was not.

"I know anyone who was in his sphere felt a strange electric current chase across the room as he entered it. I know he was the love of my life, the dearest, most exciting and witty friend I have ever had.

"I remember once I was asked a question by a journalist: 'Who would you most like to be stuck in a lift with?' I think I was meant  to respond with a name like 'Einstein' and I said 'Martin Kelly'. They said: 'Who's that?'

'Well, he happens to be my husband, but I promise you, if you met him you'd also want to be stuck in a lift with him. (Said journalist was female.) As well as being gorgeous, he's the most exciting, stimulating person I have ever met.'

"They said that was ridiculous and couldn't be my answer as no one would believe it. I agree, it seems implausible that someone I've known since I was 15 still thrills me to the core. He pushed me to do things I didn't think I wanted to do. Or at least, I didn't think I did until I had tried and was through the hoop of fire and then, of course, I felt a foot taller, living and breathing at his breakneck speed.

"It seems he had this effect on everyone who was his friend. You were touched by fire, it scalded sometimes.

"I worried about that for my boys. Would he push them too much when they were up that mountain? I would watch him effortlessly swoosh down the slope on his snowboard as they struggled on skis to keep up, only to realise by the last day his methods had triumphed again.

"They, of course, were now leading him, fearlessly shooting down black slopes with him chasing them, grinning from ear to ear, and, yes, even holding a video camera to capture the triumph of his 'pups'.

"Rightly or wrongly, he wasn't available to everyone. I think this was more to do with an inherent shyness than any kind of snobbery. But, as a result, the treasures he shared with me were for me and me alone - selfish, I know, but how loved he made those he loved feel. I can't begin to describe that feeling.

"I would be on a crowded busy street running an errand or picking up the boys from school near his hospital and my stomach would do a somersault at the sight of a man in my peripheral vision. I would instantly feel shame that my eyes had wandered or my loins been stirred by another and would quickly turn away, only seconds later to hear someone laughing and saying: 'My darling, you just walked straight past me!'

"I would explain how I thought I'd seen another sexy man and all along it was him and he would blush like a schoolboy and bury his face in my neck.

"I just can't believe I won't feel his skin any more, how is that possible? I loved and touched him every day, and thank goodness I did. Bizarrely, we never raised our voices to one another, not a good or a bad thing – that just didn't happen between us.

(Photo credit: WireImage)

I"I can't believe that that magical, beautiful creature is not here any more. He was too good to be true. There was never a day when we didn't say: 'It's ridiculous how lucky we are, look how blessed our life is.' I frequently felt undeserving of this; he, however, never.

"He was so sure of his place in the world and his right to everything he'd been blessed with, but without ever being complacent about it. I suppose it was because unlike most of us he never squandered a second of his life, every breath he took was full to bursting.

"I still feel like the luckiest woman alive, even though he's not here. To have been given such a love, to have had ten years of utter bliss waking up next to someone who made my heart flutter, I could never in my wildest dreams have wished for more than that.

"I don't know why I'm not surprised that his life came to an abrupt end. I didn't think, 'Why us? Why me?', I just thought, 'Thank God I've lived like this thus far. Whatever happens, it was worth every ounce of pain I'm going through now.' "

E-mail

• Digg
• Facebook
• Fark
• Yahoo Buzz
• Stumbleupon