'She was the bedrock of my life': Monty Python's Michael Palin announces death of wife of 57 years Helen Gibbins

Monty Python comedian Michael Palin is mourning his late wife Helen Gibbins, who died this week just after the couple had celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary.

Palin, 79, announced Gibbins' death on his personal website on Tuesday (Wednesday morning in Australia), revealing she "died peacefully in the early hours" of May 2.

"She had been suffering with chronic pain for several years, which was compounded a few years ago by a diagnosis of kidney failure," Palin wrote. "We first met on a summer holiday on the Suffolk coast when we were both sixteen and we married in our early twenties."

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"Her death is an indescribable loss for myself, our three children and four grandchildren," Palin continued, after noting he and Gibbins had marked 57 years of marriage in April.

"Helen was the bedrock of my life," Palin added. "Her quietly wise judgment informed all my decisions and her humour and practical good sense was at the heart of our life together."

In 2022, per The Guardian, Palin announced Gibbins had moved to respite care after she did not respond well to prescribed pain medication.

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In 2012, The Independent profiled Palin, and revealed that the comedian and his late wife's first meeting as teenagers inspired parts of East of Ipswich, a 1987 BBC television movie Palin wrote.

The couple, in real life, married in 1966 and had the same addressed listed since 1968.

"Fame really is a trap," Palin told the outlet in 2012 as he spoke about his career. "When I start complaining about this, Helen quite rightly says: 'Well, here's an idea: don't make another 10-part television series.' But fame would cut anybody off from the kind of things that I like to do."