How did Warwick Davis' wife Samantha die?

Warwick Davis has announced that his wife of over 30 years, Samantha Davis, died on March 24. "My wife and soul-mate, best friend. Devoted mother. My favourite human. My most trusted confidant and an ardent supporter of everything I did in my career, has passed," the 54-year-old said in a statement. "Her passing has left a huge hole in our lives as a family. I miss her hugs."

While Samantha's cause of death has not been shared, ITV and BBC star Warwick explained that her mobility had become impaired in recent years. He said she was "determined that it would not impact her quality of life and limit what she did and was able to achieve."

Samantha's death follows her 2019 battle with sepsis. Her health dramatically declined ahead of 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 space left by Sam's hospital bed. I hoped it would not symbolise a future for us without her."

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It's believed she contracted the deadly bacterial infection, sepsis, after undergoing decompression surgery on her spine. Samantha said: "We went home a week later and suddenly I couldn't feel my legs. I thought I was still recovering from the surgery so I went to bed, but the next day I felt awful, as though I had been hit by a truck.

"I stayed in bed all day while Warwick and Harrison went to a family party and the next morning I woke at 4am feeling even worse." She recalled her deteriorating condition, "As the day went on I couldn't 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, which has been inherited by both their daughter Annabelle and son Harrison. He told the Guardian in 2015: “You look at somebody with dwarfism, the first thing that strikes you is probably that they’re short, and that’s it.

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

He told the US outlet: “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 more heartbreak when Samantha had a miscarriage with their second child.