Warwick Davis has announced that his wife of over 30 years, Samantha Davis, died on March 24. “My wife and soul mate, best friend. A devoted mother. My favorite person. My closest confidant and ardent supporter of everything I did in my career has passed away,” the 54-year-old said in a statement. “Her passing has left a huge void in our lives as a family. I miss her hugs.”

While Samantha’s cause of death has not been disclosed, ITV and BBC star Warwick explained that her mobility had been affected in recent years, saying she was “determined that this would not affect her quality of life and limit what she could do and achieve”.

Samantha’s death followed her battle with sepsis in 2019. Her health deteriorated dramatically before a family caravan holiday. Warwick previously said: “The next few hours were the longest of my life as I waited on the ward with our children in the empty room that lay next to Sam’s hospital bed. I hoped it would not symbolise a future without her for us.”

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She is believed to have contracted the fatal bacterial infection sepsis following spinal decompression surgery. Samantha said: “We went home a week later and suddenly I couldn’t feel my legs. I thought I was still recovering from the operation so I went to bed but the next day I felt awful, like I’d been hit by a truck.”

“I stayed in bed all day while Warwick and Harrison went to a family function, and when I woke up at 4am the next morning I felt even worse.” She recalled her worsening condition: “As the day went on I could no longer concentrate, I lay on the sofa and when I tried to get up I collapsed on the floor.”

Warwick was born with spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita (SED), an extremely rare genetic form of dwarfism that both her daughter Annabelle and son Harrison inherited. He told the Guardian in 2015: “When you see someone with dwarfism, the first thing you probably notice is that they’re short, and that’s all.”

“But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It gets worse. It could be a cleft palate or hearing loss – or you could end up in a wheelchair.” In a 2022 interview with People, Warwick spoke about the grief he and Samantha experienced when their first son died shortly after his birth from complications due to the dwarfism genes he inherited from both parents.

He told the US broadcaster: “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.”

A few years later, they experienced further heartache when Samantha miscarried her second child.