Denzel Washington expressed his grief over his mother Lennis Washington’s death on Wednesday’s episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
Yahoo! reports that the actor broke down after discussing the death of his mother, who died in June at 97 years of age. Washington talked to Colbert about his prior quote of a mother being a boy’s first love.
“A mother is a son’s first true love. A son, especially that first son, is a mother’s last true love,” he said before he began choking up. He also explained how his mother had been there for him throughout his life and his acting career. After saying that she “went home,” he asked Colbert for a tissue as his emotions caught up with him. He also revealed that he didn’t cry at his mother’s funeral.
As a way to break the tension, Washington gave a wry answer when Colbert asked him why he thought he didn't express emotion at his mother's funeral. "I don't know," said Washington. "I guess I saved it up for you."
‘I don’t know,” said Washington. “I guess I saved it up for you.”
Colbert and Washington comisserated over their personal stories of tragedy in a simple way. Washington said, “Hug them, love them,” with Colbert, who lost his brothers and father in a plane crash when he was a boy, and his mother in 2013, said, “I know it well.”
Washington will be seen next in the film The Tragedy of MacBeth by Joel Coen, which will be released this Christmas in theaters. Aramide Tinubu wrote her review of the film for Shadow and Act that Washington “is at his best here,” adding, “He’s agile, charming, demanding, determined, and filled with greed. The actor allows his character’s paranoia to taunt the audience, wielding it with his haunted looks and shocking hallucinations.”
Watch a clip below:
TONIGHT: Denzel Washington opens up about losing his mother this year, at age 97. #LSSC pic.twitter.com/ODr0kqwlry
— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) December 16, 2021