Marc Maron is grieving the loss of Lynn Shelton. The comedian and actor emotionally paid tribute to his late girlfriend on Monday’s episode of his WTF podcast. Shelton, an acclaimed director, writer and producer, passed away on Saturday from a previously undisclosed blood disorder at age 54.
“She was my partner, she was my girlfriend, she was my friend and I loved her,” Maron emotionally began. “I loved her a lot. And she loved me, and I knew that. I don’t know that I’d ever felt what I felt with her before. I do know, actually, I did not. I have not.”
Maron said he was “so comfortable” with Shelton and it was unlike any other relationship.
“I was able to exist in a state of self-acceptance because of her love for me,” he explained. “I made her laugh all the time and she made me laugh and we were happy. We laughed a lot. We played Crazy Eights. We cooked food together. We traveled. We wrote.”
The 56-year-old had previously told listeners on his WTF with Marc Maron podcast that Shelton had strep throat — or so they thought.
“We treated it as strep throat,” he explained. “I thought she had strep throat, she thought she had strep throat.”
Shelton got tested for COVID-19 when she fell ill a week ago and it was negative. When her fever wasn’t going down on Thursday she made an appointment the following day for blood tests. Sadly, she never made it.
“In the middle of the night, I heard her collapse in the hallway on her way to the bathroom,” Maron revealed. He found her on the floor “conscious, but delirious” and she couldn’t move.
“I called 911 and they got her. That was the last time I saw her alive was on the floor being taken away,” he said. “Over the course of the day, there was never any good news. She got [to the hospital] she was anemic. She had low blood pressure. She had internal bleeding. And I don’t want to go into too many details about that day, but they tried very hard at two hospitals… They eventually had to let her go. They tried everything they could. They took her off life support and she passed away.”
Maron was allowed to go to the hospital after she died on Saturday.
“I told her I loved her, I touched her forehead and I left,” he said, through tears. “And now, this process is happening.”
Shelton was known for films like Humpday and Your Sister’s Sister. Her directing credits include episodes of Little Fires Everywhere, The Morning Show, Fresh Off the Boat and Maron’s Netflix show, Glow. Maron also starred in Shelton’s 2019 film Sword of Trust.
“She was an amazing woman, she was an inspiration to so many people,” Maron said. “She was a determined artist… she had tremendous love for people, for her friends, for her son Milo. My relationship with her — I can’t even explain it. … No one’s got anything bad to say about Lynn Shelton… I’m so glad that Lynn was so well-loved because now everybody’s saying ‘I hope that guy’s OK. How’s the cranky guy doing?’”
Although he knew who Shelton was for years, Maron didn’t meet her until she came on his podcast in 2015. They wouldn’t become romantically involved until years later.
“I didn’t know her and she had been offered to be on the show before, but I was nervous,” Maron said, explaining she had an affiliation to one of his ex-wives.
“I didn’t know what to expect. At the time she was married and I was with somebody, but at this point when I had this conversation, it’s undeniable that we connected. My connection with her is almost seamless, I have no self-consciousness when I’m with her,” he continued. “I was definitely a better person when I was engaged with her, as a comic, as a guitar player, as a human, as a lover, as everything. I was better in Lynn Shelton’s gaze.”
In honor of Shelton, he replayed the episode from August 2015 when they met. After, he asked, “Did you feel it? Did you feel it?”
“When she left that day I called up [my producer] and I said, ‘I don’t know what just happened man, but I can see some alternate reality that I was with her,’” he recalled. “That alternate reality became the reality for the past year.”
Maron continued, “I lit her up, she lit me up. I loved talking to her. I loved everything about her… The good things are there, but the bad things are too close right now. I don’t even know if I should be out in public talking. But, this is what I do and this is where I’m at and there’s no right or wrong with grief. It comes in waves. I just know that this person has touched so many lives. Lynn Shelton is so important, so inspirational. She was so kind and so charismatic and full of joy and positivity.”
Maron thanked people for the “outpouring of love and support for me” and “for her family.”
“If there’s anything she taught me, really, is that people do love me, that she loved me and that there’s nothing I can do about that,” he emotionally declared. “I realize I was learning how to accept it and I’m accepting it now. I accepted it from her and I love her and I’m happy you all loved her… I’ve never felt grief like this or this bad.”
He said her death is “a horrendous loss for a lot of people.”
“My heart goes out to her family, her friends, anybody who knew her. I guess we’ll get through this,” he said.
Shelton was previously married to actor Kevin Seal. They share a son, Milo.
Maron opened up a bit about the start of their relationship, explaining she was already separated but he was seeing someone.
“I was still struggling with feelings and I was trying to keep my feelings in,” he admitted. Eventually, Maron told her, “If I don’t try to honor my feelings for you, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”
He continued, “It was the greatest decision I ever made and I don’t have any regrets about it. I’m sorry other people got hurt, but now whatever she gave me it’s going to stick. It’ll elevate me for the rest of my life once I get past this horrendous loss. I know that.”
Many in Hollywood are reeling after Shelton’s unexpected death. Reese Witherspoon, Kerry Washington, Mark Duplass and Mindy Kaling are among the stars who posted tributes on social media.
