Just my two cents on Alan Rickman’s diaries…

I've seen some people say they refuse to read Alan Rickman’s diaries out of respect. I understand the initial hesitation — I felt it too. But after reading them, I realised they are neither invasive nor inappropriate. What feels more contradictory is rejecting the book while still engaging with quotes and excerpts shared everywhere. To me, the diaries are a quiet, thoughtful legacy.

For me, they became a way to feel him closer — as if he were talking quietly on the phone, sharing fragments of everyday life, small frustrations, moments of joy. Nothing sensational, nothing intrusive. Just the voice of a thoughtful man observing the world around him. And I’m certain that his wife Rima curated what was shared with care and love, protecting what truly belonged to their private world. What remains feels not like intrusion, but like a gentle, generous presence.

by eve-rickmaniac1979

“Talk to Rima, bless her, she always can make me laugh.”

“Rima arrives and a big lump of me settles. Thank God we laugh together.”

“Kensington Town Hall. Rima becomes an alderman and makes a fire-brand speech that makes me very proud of her.”

“R’s birthday. 9pm The Shed. Young, noisy crowd but they found us a corner table so that our combined age didn’t embarrass the room.” (31 January 2014)

“10.30 David Glasser arrives with a bunch of flowers. The car is downstairs. We drive, on the most beautiful sunny day, to Brooklyn and the Courthouse to find David’s father (88 it turns out, amazingly, later). He is the wisest, warmest, most caring and listening man. No wonder he is a judge.

We were married. A bit like a doctor jabs you in the arm when you’re not looking. Then he told a joke, a good one. We walked back across Brooklyn Bridge and had lunch in Barbuto. Everything about it was the way it needed to be.“ (31 August 2012)

(“Madly, Deeply: The Alan Rickman diaries”)