Annie Walton Doyle
Warwick Davis’ wife Samantha has tragically died aged 53.
Samantha Davis was the founder of the dwarfism charity Little People UK. She also had an uncredited role as a goblin in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and the BBC educational series Through the Dragon’s Eye.
She met Davis on the set of the George Lucas film Willow and they would marry three years later in 1991.
But sadly, Davis has now announced that his life partner passed away in March.
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Warwick Davis, who is best known for starring in the Harry Potter franchise, was born with an extremely rare condition called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita (SED).
John Hopkins Medicine describes it as ‘a rare genetic disorder that involves spinal and epiphyseal enlargement’.
It meant he never grew taller than 3ft 6in.
Samantha had a different form of dwarfism called achondroplasia.
Davis and Samantha’s children also have SED.
Davis and his wife share two surviving children, daughter Annabelle and son Harrison.
The couple’s first son Lloyd died at just nine days old due to complications from the dwarfism genes he inherited from both his parents.
Speaking of the tragedy to People, Davis said: “I think it brings you closer together, or something like that, but it’s an experience I wouldn’t wish on anyone, it’s devastating.
“You do learn to live with it, eventually, over time, you’re able to better understand why it happened and can come to terms with it a bit more, but you never get over it.
“I think the losses shaped our family dynamic, we love Annabelle and Harrison all that more because they’re here with us.”
Davis also told The Guardian: “In hindsight, we should have had some genetic counselling.
“Lloyd survived for only nine days as he inherited both of our genetic conditions, which is fatal.
“His lungs were just too small to support him without the aid of a machine, so eventually we had to make a decision to switch off the life support.”
The couple lost a second child – who they named George – when Samantha miscarried.
“We’ll always remember what happened with George and Lloyd. We’ll always be grateful that we had them for the short time that we did,” Davis commented.
While Davis and Samantha did face tragedy, they also had a happy and fulfilling life together.
Davis recently took to Instagram and uploaded a photo of him and Samantha smiling on a ‘date night’.
He captioned the post: “A long overdue date night with my beautiful wife. She felt a bit overdressed for McDonald’s!”
Fans have since taken to the upload and paid tribute, with one person penning: “Condolences to you and your family.”
Another simply says: “Sorry for your loss.”
Samantha previously had a brush with death in 2019 when she fell ill with sepsis ahead of a family holiday.
“The next few hours were the longest of my life as I waited on the ward with our children in the empty space left by Sam’s hospital bed. I hoped it would not symbolise a future for us without her,” Davis recalled to The Sun.
“Our family gathered by her bedside; although optimistic, we were sort of saying goodbye in case Sam didn’t survive.
“It’s so hard to see someone you love more than anything in the world fighting to stay alive without the strength to even roll over in bed.”
Fortunately, Samantha pulled through and she was nursed back to health by Davis over the following months.
Sadly, Davis has now heart-wrenchingly announced that his wife has passed away.
In a statement to the BBC, the actor pays tribute to his ‘favourite human’, saying: “I miss her hugs.”
Davis calls Samantha his ‘most trusted confidante and an ardent supporter of everything I did in my career’.
“She was a unique character, always seeing the sunny side of life she had a wicked sense of humour and always laughed at my bad jokes,” he comments.
Davis also says that with his wife by his side, ‘it was like having a superpower’.
“Without Sammy, there would have been no Tenable quiz show, no Willow series. No Idiot Abroad series 3,” the actor shares.
The couple’s children, Annabelle and Harrison, join their father in paying tribute, saying ‘her love and happiness carried us through our whole lives’, adding: “Mum is our best friend and we’re honoured to have received a love like hers.”
At the time of writing, Samantha’s cause of death has yet to be disclosed.
Rest in peace.
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