Star Wars actor Warwick Davis opens up about heartbreak over the death of two of his children

So sad

Warwick Davis

Warwick Davis, who starred in Star Wars and Harry Potter, has opened up about his heartbreak over losing his two children.

The actor, who's been married to Samantha Davis since 1991, lost his first two children, Lloyd and George.

Lloyd passed away at just nine days old, because his lungs were too small for normal function, and they lost George when Samantha was 19 weeks pregnant.

Speaking about the heartbreaking loss, he said during his appearance with Bear Grylls on Tuesday’s Bear’s Mission: 'Prior to Annabelle and Harrison we had a baby boy, Lloyd, who inherited both our conditions… and that is something that proves fatal.

‘It’s something that a baby won’t survive. But Lloyd he lived for survived for nine days, but yeah he was beautiful… but it was a tough time. And yeah, we had a stillborn too.’

The 48-year-old added that the incredibly sad situation made him and wife Samantha stronger as a couple, saying: 'That kind of stuff it just makes you stronger [as a couple].’

Their two children didn't survive because they inherited both parents' forms of dwarfism - achondroplasia from their mum and spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita (SED) from their dad - a genetic combination that is fatal.

Warwick Davis with his wife and two children

The couple went on to have more children - Annabelle, who they welcomed in 1997, and son Harrison, born in 2003 - who have inherited Warwick's condition but not Samantha's.

It's not the first time the couple has spoken about their loss. Back in 2014, Samantha told the Daily Mail: 'We found out later that he was the first in the world to survive at all. The doctors actually learned a lot from Lloyd, hopefully that will help other people. But it hit us like a train.'

'It was heartbreaking. When they wanted to turn the machine off I said, “No, no, no”, but they said, “Look, we'll just give him to you and he will just go to sleep in your arms.” And he did. I'm so glad he didn't die on the machine now. We gave him everything we could.'

Mariana Cerqueira
Lifestyle Editor

Mariana is a lifestyle writer who has written for Goodto.com and My Imperfect Life. She joined the Goodto.com team as an intern after completing her journalism MA at City University. After six months spent writing about food, celebrity news, and family trends, Mariana left to write for Healthy Food magazine - but returned in 2017, to join the Future team once again. In her spare time, you’ll find Mariana in the kitchen cooking for her friends.