Maureen Lipman’s partner of 13 years, Guido Castro, has died after contracting Covid.
The Coronation Street star said the endemic respiratory virus was not the main cause of death for Castro, 84, who reportedly had a form of Parkinson’s and was in a respite home, “but it weakened him terribly”.
“We don’t know how he got it or when or if he had it when he got the vaccine,” she told the Daily Mail. “I said to Guido: ‘It’s time to go. You’ve got to let go.’ And I think for once in his life he actually did what I told him.”
She added: “My heart is cracking” following his death on Thursday.
In an interview with Prima magazine she described Castro as “a lovely man” and said: “I haven’t always been the best wife, mother or lover – I think I’m a bit hit and miss – but I recognise a good man when I see him.”
Castro and Lipman, who were side by side when he died, started dating in 2008. She was previously married to the writer Jack Rosenthal, with whom she had two children, until his death in 2004.
Lipman, 74, has been taking time away from Coronation Street as she does not feel safe, though she is intending to return after she is vaccinated against Covid.
“I continued in Coronation Street after the first initial lockdown. I went back and I am still officially working on it except that I am taking a bit of sabbatical until I get my vaccination at the moment,” she told the Outspoken Beauty podcast.
She told the Daily Mail a fortnight ago in an interview published on Saturday: “I was actually one of the first people to wear a mask back in February last year. People were looking at me like I was crazy.
“The vaccine should have been the best of news, but it’s been overshadowed by these variants and nobody really knows if the vaccine is going to work.
“When it comes down to those fine details we don’t know, we’re guinea pigs. It’s agonising, but we do have a vaccine.”
Lipman has also previously told of believing she had Covid back in May and that she feared she may have inadvertently transmitted the virus.
“I believe myself to have had a mild form of coronavirus masquerading as a fortnight’s persistent cough, with attached fatigue and sweats,” she told the Lady magazine.