Stanley Tucci Still Grieves His First Wife Despite Being Happily Remarried

Stanley Tucci has been happily married to Emily Blunt’s sister, Felicity, for over 10 years now, but there’s a pain hiding in his heart that no amount of love can heal. The famous actor went through a traumatic loss of his first wife, which left him with a lot of guilt and grief he can’t move on from. Keep reading to learn more about Tucci’s lost love story.

Tucci’s first marriage left him heartbroken.

Stanley Tucci married Kate Spath in 1995. It was the first marriage for him, but a second for Kate. The couple went on to have three children together in addition to Spath’s other two kids she had with her first husband. Stanley and Kate’s marriage didn’t come without challenges. In 2002, Tucci fell for The Sopranos star Edie Falco after starring in a Broadway show together. The affair was short-lived and Kate agreed to take her husband back.

Unfortunately, their troubles didn’t end there. In 2009, Spath passed away due to breast cancer, which devasted Tucci. After her death, Stanley sold their house and did everything to put himself together for their kids, but it was a tough challenge.

He still carries a lot of guilt.

The famous actor was hit hard by his wife’s passing. He opened up about the experience one year after Kate was gone saying: “There’s all the blaming of yourself, which you can’t do, but you kind of do... and I’m just — I’m mostly sad.” He couldn’t come to terms with the fact that Kate was only 47 when she died, and he felt sad for her and their children, who lost out on so much time with their mother.

But Stanley also struggled with the fact that he chose not to be with his Kate in her final days. His biggest regret to this day is not being for her the moment she passed, but he had a good reason: “I was afraid it would affect me so greatly that I wouldn’t be able to go on and take care of the kids. That it would overwhelm me, so I had to step away.”

He managed to find love again...

Even though Tucci was a heartbroken widower, destiny came knocking. In 2011, he got engaged to Felicity Blunt, sister of the famous actress Emily Blunt. Stanley and Felicity met at his The Devil Wears Prada co-star’s wedding with John Krasinski in 2010. The couple tied the knot in 2012 and share two kids: a son and a daughter.

Notably, Stanley and Felicity have a significant 21-year age gap between them, which nearly scared Tucci away. He once revealed that he was on the verge of breaking up with Felicity over it, but, thankfully, he came to his senses: “I didn’t want to feel old for the rest of my life! But I knew that this was an incredibly special person.”

...but can’t forget his late wife.

Today, Stanley Tucci is happily married, enjoys a successful career, but the pain of losing Kate remains fresh in his heart. In 2021, The Hunger Games star opened up about the grief he still feels: “It’s still hard after 11 years. And it will always be hard.” And yet, Tucci tries hard to remain strong in order not to “wallow in that grief and let it take over” because Kate wouldn’t want to wish it on her family.

Also in 2021, Tucci revealed that a few years ago he was diagnosed with tonsil cancer, which was incredibly scary for him, especially after he went through with Kate. Luckily, it was caught early, and the actor made a full recovery. You can read more about Stanley’s cancer battle here.