Helen Mirren spoke so lovingly about her ex Liam Neeson

You’ve heard of couple goals, but Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson might be Ex Goals. The two actors dated in the eighties and eventually married other people, but ever the gentlewoman, Mirren has nothing but praise for the Irish actor.

“We loved each other. We were not meant to be together in that way, but we loved each other very, very much. I love him deeply to this day. He’s such an amazing guy,” Dame Mirren recently told AARP magazine. The bathtub aficionado added that she had made a shirt for each of her boyfriends, including exes Neeson and Peter O’Toole, and her husband since 1997, director Taylor Hackford.

The two met on the set of the 1981 Arthurian fantasy Excalibur, in which Mirren played Morgan le Fay and Neeson, Sir Gawain. They dated from 1980 to 1985 and even lived together. Mirren went on to marry Hackford, while Neeson wed Natasha Richardson in 1994; the pair were together until her tragic death after a skiing accident in 2009.

When Mirren and Neeson were both on The Graham Norton Show in 2018, the Taken star revealed the moment he fell for Mirren, per Vanity Fair. “I remember being on the set and standing with Ciarán Hinds as Helen walked towards us dressed in her full Morgana Le Fey costume, and we both went, ‘Oh fuck,’…I  was smitten. I think Ciarán was too, but I was very smitten!” Who wouldn’t be!?

Helen Mirren’s next project is the Yellowstone prequel, in which she co-stars with Harrison Ford. Now, I know she’s married, and he’s hitched to Calista Flockhart, but seriously, Dame Mirren pulls. She really pulls. Guess we should follow the beauty advice she gave GLAMOUR US: “Forget the word beauty, and find another word that applies to you. My word is swagger. It’s not your beauty; it’s your swagger—unless, of course, you’re very beautiful, in which case you’re fine.” LMAO.

This story was originally published by GLAMOUR (US).