Helen Mirren Is Here to Remind You She Dated “Amazing” Liam Neeson

Did you know Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson were once a couple?

In a Nov. 22 interview with AARP the Magazine, the Oscar-winning actress recalled their ’80s relationship and the romantic, handmade gift she once got him.

“All my boyfriends had to have a shirt made by me,” Mirren said. “I did make one for Liam, oddly enough.”

“We loved each other,” the 77-year-old continued. “We were not meant to be together in that way, but we loved each other very, very much. I love him deeply to this day. He’s such an amazing guy.”

And the duo have remained close, even appearing together on BBC’s The Graham Norton Show in 1981.

“We lived together,” Mirren told host Graham Norton. “We were a serious item for a while.”

Neeson, 70, recalled how they met on the set of the 1981 movie Excalibur, an adaptation of the legend of King Arthur. The actor played Gawain, a Knight of the Round Table, while Mirren played the enchantress Morgan le Fay. And when Neeson first saw the actress, while standing with friend and co-star Ciarán Hinds, he was indeed enchanted.

“We both went, ‘F–k,'” the Taken actor admitted. “I was smitten.”