Thaindian News

San Francisco, March 18 (DPA) Actress Natasha Richardson was reported to be brain dead late Tuesday after a seemingly innocuous fall while skiing on a bunny slope at the Mont Tremblant resort in Canada.
Richardson’s family declined to comment on her condition and speculation swirled as to her condition.

The New York Post quoted friends of the family as saying that the British-born actress, 45, was being transported from a Montreal hospital to New York so that her family and friends could say goodbye before she is taken off life support. Fox news and E! Online reported similar stories.

A reporter for the Toronto Star saw Richardson being taken from the hospital on an intensive care bed, heavily wrapped in blankets and with tubes covering her face. She was flown back to New York on a private jet.

According to a spokesperson for the ski resort, Richardson fell during a private lesson Monday on a beginners’ slope while not wearing a helmet. She managed to walk back to her room and was laughing and joking. But she was taken to hospital an hour later when she started having headaches.

“She did not show any visible sign of injury, but the ski patrol followed strict procedures and brought her back to the bottom of the slope and insisted she should see a doctor,” said a statement from the resort, which is some 125 km north-west of Montreal.

Richardson is a member of the Redgrave acting dynasty and wife of actor Liam Neeson, who left a Toronto movie shoot to be at her side in Montreal, the CTV network reported.

Neeson and Richardson have been married since 1994 and have two sons, Micheal Richard Antonio, 13, and Daniel Jack, 12, who were reportedly skiing with her when the accident happened.

Richardson won a Tony Award for playing Sally Bowles in a Broadway production of “Cabaret” in 1998. She has starred in “Nell”, “The Parent Trap” and more than 30 film and television productions.