Minnie Driver remembers 'fantastically spirited' late mother

Minnie Driver has recalled grieving her mother after moving back to England in 2020.

During Wednesday's episode of the Table Manners podcast, the Good Will Hunting star remembered her late mother Gaynor Churchward, who died in March 2021, months after Minnie moved back to England with her 15-year-old son Henry after years in California.

"When we moved here, we meant to do it for a term - like September to Christmas - and then, let's see if the schools open back in California again, and they didn't," Minnie detailed of the initial move during lockdowns. "So we were like, 'Okay, let's finish out the school year.' And then my mother died very unexpectedly in that time."

She continued, "It was awful. It wasn't COVID, actually. It was completely unrelated. Very sudden. In retrospect, exactly how she would've liked to go... She rode her bike to Chelsea-Westminster (hospital), you know, to the emergency room. And she was gone ten days later. But that was right for my mum, who was the most adventurous, engaged, fantastically spirited person."

Gaynor was a fabric designer and former couture model, who welcomed Minnie in 1970 with Charles Ronald Driver, who passed away in 2009.

The British actress, who announced her mum's death on X/Twitter in March 2021, reflected on the aftermath of her loss.

"Our whole life changed when she died. I took Henry down to the school that I'd gone to, where my mum had also gone," Minnie continued on the podcast. "Henry just took one look at the school, and... was like, 'Could you afford to send me here?'"

She concluded, "It's a special, special place... (but) I go back (to Malibu) whenever I can't bear the grey."