Mary Tyler Moore’s widower wishes he could see her smile just "one more time."
The ‘Ordinary People’ actress’ husband Robert Levine was left devastated last week when his wife tragically passed away at the age of 80 from cardiopulmonary arrest and has admitted he’d do anything to have one last moment with his late spouse.
Speaking to People, he said: "I can’t believe she is gone. Mary was my life, my light, my love. The emptiness I feel without her with me is without bottom.
"She was a force of nature who fiercely defended her autonomy even as her health was failing. Mary was fearless, determined and wilful. If she felt strongly about something or that there was a truth to be told, she would do it, no matter the con sequences.
"She was kind, genuine, approachable and humble. And she had that smile. Oh, to see her smile that smile, just once more. My sadness is only tempered by the remarkable outpouring of good wishes, tributes, and personal ‘Mary stories’ told, with heart, by those touched by her grace. As long as we all remember her, talk about her, share our stories about her, and what she meant to us, her light will never go out."
However, it seems all was not well between Mary and her husband – who is 18 years her junior – prior to her death as police reports released by Greenwich Police Department state they had received a number of emergency calls from her home in Connecticut, dating back to May 2012, regarding domestic violence.
But friends of the couple – who were married for 33 years – believe the incidents were caused by prescription drugs Mary was taking after undergoing brain surgery.
Mary was laid to rest in Connecticut on Sunday (29.01.17), during a private ceremony which saw around 50 people in attendance at the Oak Lawn Cemetery in Fairfield.
Her death certificated revealed that Mary’s passing was brought on by aspiration pneumonia – a lung infection which develops after inhaling food or liquid into the lungs – hypoxia, a deficiency in the levels of oxygen in the tissue, and diabetes mellitus, a metabolic disease which effects blood sugar levels in the body.