Natasha Richardson died in a freak accident. Ten years later, her son has taken her name.

In 2009, Natasha Richardson died in a freak accident.

She was just 45 years old.

The actress left behind her husband, Liam Neeson, and their two sons Micheál and Daniel.

Now, almost 10 years after her death, Micheál has paid tribute to his late mother with a brilliant and unusual gesture. The 23-year-old has changed his name from Micheál Neeson to Micheál Richardson.

Natasha’s mother, actress Vanessa Redgrave, said it was for sentimental reasons.

“That wasn’t because he wanted to avoid his father’s fame, which is enormous,” the 81-year-old told the Daily Mail. “He wanted to hold his mother close to him – because she was a remarkable actress. Absolutely remarkable.”

Richardson is probably best-known for playing the absent-minded, yet well meaning, Elizabeth James in the 1998 version of The Parent Trap.

The remake, which also starred Dennis Quaid, of the 1961 classic would become one of the most-watched family films of all time.

Richardson, who was married to fellow actor Neeson, would go on to star in a bunch of Hollywood movies.

Then, a little over a decade after the film’s release, tragedy struck.

The mum-of-two was taking a private ski lesson in Montreal, Canada, when she fell on a beginner’s slope and hit her head. She felt fine after the incident and only complained of a slight headache.

The 45-year-old was later rushed to a New York hospital and Neeson had to make the difficult decision to turn off her life support.

“She was on life support,” he told 60 Minutes. “I went in to her and I told her I loved her, said ‘Sweetie, you’re not coming back from this, you’ve banged your head’.”

Her official cause of death was a epidural haematoma.

Last year, Neeson, now 66, opened up about how his role in Love Actually almost mirrored what was about to happen in his own life.

“It’s 14 years ago now and we’ve all lived lives. Some of us have died. Oh, my dear old friend Alan Rickman, God rest him,” Neeson told EW. “Some have gotten divorced. I’ve lost my wife.”

“Plenty of times I’ve thought about this film and my own life. Love Actually, that’s the way it is. That’s the tapestry of life.”

Five years after Richardson’s death, Neeson said it felt like it was “never real”.

“There’s periods now when I hear the door opening, especially the first couple of years… anytime I hear that door opening, I still think I’m going to hear her,” he told Loaded magazine.

Neeson raised their two boys – Micheál, 23, and Daniel, 22, – on his own.

In 2016, the Taken actor hinted that he had found love again with someone “incredibly famous”.