Rachael Stirling has revealed she consumes a small portion of her late mother’s ashes before every opening night.
Stirling, 49, disclosed the ritual in her new memoir All About My Mother, a book that examines her relationship with Diana Rigg, the acclaimed British actress who died in September 2020 at age 82. The memoir, published this month, contains the first detailed account of how the stage and screen performer has privately honored her mother’s memory in the years since her death.
“Although it shocks people when I tell them,” Stirling wrote in the memoir, as reported. “It feels absolutely natural to me. I am cloaked in her, shielded and shrouded by her. My mother is my superpower.”
The practice involves ingesting what Stirling described as merely “a grain or two” of cremated remains. Health authorities generally advise against consuming ashes, noting that cremated remains can contain heavy metals and chemical residues from the cremation process. While accidental ingestion of trace amounts is typically non-toxic, deliberate consumption carries risks of toxic buildup over time.
Rigg’s career spanned more than six decades and included iconic roles in the 1960s television series The Avengers, her portrayal of Tracy Bond opposite George Lazenby in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and her later work as Olenna Tyrell in HBO’s Game of Thrones. She received numerous accolades throughout her career, including a Tony Award for her stage work.
Stirling’s memoir also recounts the difficult final months of her mother’s life, including Rigg’s initial decision to conceal her cancer diagnosis from her daughter in March 2020. At that time, Stirling was performing in Mike Bartlett’s play Love Love Love, and Rigg sought to protect her from distraction. The secrecy proved short-lived as Rigg’s condition deteriorated rapidly.
The pandemic complicated an already painful situation. Stirling described in her book how she once lost track of her mother within the hospital system during the chaos of COVID-19. “They lost Mama’s name on the system at one juncture during Covid,” she wrote. “I was asking: ‘Where the f— is my mother?'”
She continued: “I found her eventually. I basically had to break into the hospital. She was in a room on her own. She couldn’t get out of bed. The only thing she wanted to eat was this yogurt, but she couldn’t open it, and nobody had helped her, so she hadn’t eaten anything.”
Stirling took her mother home after that discovery. Rigg died six months after her diagnosis, passing peacefully in her sleep in September 2020.
In a statement released at the time of her mother’s death, Stirling said: “My Beloved Ma died peacefully in her sleep early this morning, at home, surrounded by family. I will miss her beyond words.”
She added: “She spent her last months joyfully reflecting on her extraordinary life, full of love, laughter and a deep pride in her profession.”
Stirling has established her own acting career with credits in television series including Tipping the Velvet and The Bletchley Circle, as well as numerous stage productions. The mother and daughter occasionally worked together, and Stirling’s theatrical upbringing under Rigg’s influence shaped her professional path.
The memoir’s title, All About My Mother, deliberately echoes Pedro Almodóvar’s celebrated 1999 film, signaling the deeply personal and candid nature of the material within. Stirling’s revelation about the ashes ritual arrives as part of a broader cultural moment in which public figures have increasingly shared unconventional grief practices, though few have described something so intimate and physically bound to the deceased.
Stirling’s book is available now through British publishers.