McElhone: 'You can't not get out of bed'

Rex Features

Natascha McElhone has revealed that she has found it difficult to sleep since her husband Martin Kelly died suddenly last year at the age of 42.

The Californication star was expecting the couple's third child when Kelly collapsed on the doorstep of their London home.

McElhone, 38, told The Times that her children help her to carry on with her day-to-day life.

"Everyone's been saying, 'I don't know how you can manage on your own, with the baby' - but it's because of that, in a funny way, it's been manageable. You can't hole up and not get out of bed," she said.

McElhone, who was recently named as the new face of Neutrogena, said she now wants to be treated as "a normal person and not a grief-struck widow".