Famous widowed women and their lives after loss
Yulia Navalnaya takes center stage, promising to “continue Alexei Navalny’s work"
© Reuters
CELEBRITY Relationships
Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader and activist who survived an attempted assassination in 2020, died in a Russian prison on February 16, 2024. Navalny was a larger-than-life figure in the fight against Russia's corrupt leadership who reached international fame. He was poisoned with the deadly Novichok nerve agent in 2020, an attempt on his life that is widely believed to be related to his role as Putin's most outspoken critic. He was also the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary 'Navalny' in 2022, released the year after he was made a political prisoner in Russia. After spending two years in a high-security prison, his sudden death was reported by the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service.
Navalny's death left a gaping absence in the anti-government movement in Russia, but his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, was quick to step up to the challenge. In a video statement released a few days after his death, Navalnaya declared that she intended to carry on her husband's work. "I want to live in a free Russia, I want to build a free Russia,” she said in the powerful nine-minute speech. “I call on you to stand with me. To share not only grief and endless pain … I ask you to share with me the rage. The fury, anger, hatred for those who dare to kill our future.” Navalnaya shared her belief that Navalny was killed by the Russian state, likely by Novichok poisoning, claiming that the authorities were refusing to release his body until all traces of the poison were gone. On February 28, Navalnaya made a speech to the European Parliament, accusing Putin of orchestrating her husband's death and urging the EU to take a stronger stance against Putin and his oligarchs. “You are not dealing with a politician, but with a bloody monster," she warned.
Losing a spouse is heartbreaking, but sometimes grief can also inspire courage. Many widowed women struggle with the mourning process, but some also achieve greatness after loss. Death can also be much more difficult to process and yet easier to overcome with the world grieving alongside you. Such is the case for many of the women on this list.
Browse the following gallery of prominent females who got on with life after losing their husbands.
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
