Andrew Garfield's outspoken grief helped with loss of my mother

RTÉ News​

26-05-2025

The Last Of Us actress Kaitlyn Dever has said that Andrew Garfield being so outspoken about his grief after his mother's death helped her with her own loss.
Dever revealed last year that her mother died after a breast cancer diagnosis, weeks before she filmed a scene for the post-apocalyptic HBO drama in which her character speaks about a brutal death.
The 28-year-old, also known for Netflix dramas Unbelievable and Apple Cider Vinegar as well as the comedy film Booksmart, told GQ Hype that she has repeatedly watched Spider-Man star Garfield's Stephen Colbert interview in order to learn how to cope.
She said: "I would Google it and watch it often, because I always felt like… the worst thing in my life that could happen was losing my best friend.
"And I always thought that I wouldn't be able to go on.
"But then I'd look at Andrew and think, 'well, his life seems to be moving forwards'."
She also spoke to the online magazine about filming The Last of Us days after her mother's funeral.
Dever, who attended London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (Rada), said: "I had just experienced (my loss).
"Even though death is part of the human experience, we are not meant to be used to grief and watching your best friend die. So that was a crazy line to repeat over and over again because I had just seen her.
"She wasn't alive any more and I saw her body in the hospital. And that experience is so gut-wrenching. Nothing will ever be as bad as that."
Her character Abby tells Joel Miller, played by Pedro Pascal, she found her dead father's body shortly after he was shot, as she tries to get revenge against the protagonist.
The second series of The Last Of Us was released in April and stars English actress Bella Ramsey as Ellie, who is kept safe across the post-apocalyptic world by Joel.
Garfield, who was born in the US and later moved to the UK, began filming Netflix's biography Tick, Tick… Boom!, for which he was nominated for an Oscar, just after his mother Lynn died from pancreatic cancer in 2019.
He recalled in 2021 to Colbert that he hopes "this grief stays with me because it's all of the unexpressed love that I didn't get to tell her, and I told her every day, she was the best of us", while promoting the film.