Alicia Witt has paid tribute to her parents, describing them as “beautifully original souls” following their deaths.
The actress, who stars in zombie drama The Walking Dead, opened up about the relationship with her parents and addressed the online “misconceptions” surrounding the incident.
The couple were found dead in their home in Worcester, Massachusetts, in December last year.
At the time Witt said she had not heard from her parents in several days and had asked a family member to check on them.
Sharing pictures of the family in a lengthy post on social media, she said: “it still doesn’t feel real.
“It’s been a month since I got scared, not having heard back from them, and called to have them checked on.
“Knowing as soon as I heard the detective’s voice on the other line that they were gone. Knowing I would never hear their voices again.
Witt said she was “deeply grateful” for being able to mourn “in total privacy” and would “forever be indebted” to the local funeral home.
“Thank you, also, to all those who have reached out with your memories about my parents,” she said.
“They were brilliant educators, deeply kind, curious, intuitive, wise, young at heart, funny – there will never be enough adjectives to describe them”.
Addressing the media coverage of the incident she said: “the circumstances around my parents’ sudden passings have become fodder for the press, and there are some misconceptions rolling around – understandably so.
“There’s an awful irony in the fact that, because of the very lengths they went to in order to protect their privacy in life – that privacy has been stripped away in death.
The actress said that her parents had been “fiercely stubborn” and had not allowed her to help them or make decisions for them.
“They were a united, intertwined, indivisible force, determined to do things their own way.
“Even if I could have had a crystal ball and looked into the future – if I could have said to them ‘you are going to break my heart and the hearts of all who love you with a worst-case-scenario ending if you don’t let us help you’ – I still think they would have made the same choices”.
She added: “Our last words to each other were ‘I love you’. That part was simple; never in doubt. They loved me so. I loved them so”.
According to reports in US media the bodies of Robert and Diane Witt were discovered inside their home but there were “no signs of foul play”.
Witt is also known for her role as Zelda in the final season of Netflix’s Orange is the New Black and for starring in the original 1984 production of sci-fi thriller Dune.
