Richard E. Grant has opened up to HELLO! about his multigenerational home life since he sadly lost his wife Joan in 2021. In our exclusive interview, the actor told us that his daughter, casting director Olivia, is now living with him, revealing: "Three years after my wife's death, Olivia and her husband asked to come and live in our house with their cat. We see one another every day, cook together and live a communal life, sharing everything, yet maintaining independence within that."

The star spoke to us before his appearance at the historic Goodwood Revival motorsport event, where he'll be discussing vintage fashion and film. With his innate sense of style, the actor has become something of a fashion icon - whether he's sporting an elegantly cut suit, a bold choice of colour or simply one of his favourite hand-printed shirts. And when it comes to his illustrious career, fashion and film have always been inextricably entwined.

Although his "current style is high-waisted, wide pants, slip-on shoes and striped shirts," the wardrobe he'd most like to borrow from one of his own roles is that of The Scarlet Pimpernel. "Eighteenth-century men's clothing is unbeatable in my own book."

He continues: "I love how regularly fashion changes and re-invents everything," he continues. "Gary Cooper is for me the best-dressed movie star of all time. Jacob Elordi is his current equivalent."

Richard, born in the former Swaziland, became a household name in 1987 after starring in Withnail and I, and nearly 30 years later further established himself with roles in Gosford Park, Saltburn and, of course, Spice World.

The actor arrived in London in 1982, aged 25, moving into a Notting Hill bedsit with just one suitcase and working as a waiter in Covent Garden while he auditioned for acting roles.

That same year, he met his future wife Joan while working at the Actor's Centre, where she was teaching accent lessons, but it would be five years before he found fame as the rascally Withnail and his acting career finally took off.

Some of his old costumes continue to have new life breathed into them, he reveals, particularly at the parties he loves to throw at his Richmond home.

"I was given the five suits I wore as Clifford in Spice World [Richard played the manager of the Spice Girls in the 1997 film] and store them in the attic. Olivia [the actor's daughter] asked me to wear one for her prom-themed 36th birthday party in January."

For his own fancy dress, Richard goes back to his school days. "I've still got the striped bell bottoms and four-colourway platforms I had in 1975, my last year of school - and have worn them to seventies-themed parties ever since."

Richard, 68, is extremely close to his daughter Olivia, who has worked on productions including Bridget Jones: Mad about the Boy.

It's a world away from the tempestuous relationship Richard had with his own parents during his childhood in the sixties. The actor has spoken openly about how he sided with his father after his parents' divorce, and the strain of living with his father as he developed an alcohol addiction.

"[I] loved and adored my father by day and kept out of his way after 9pm when his alcoholic pendulum swung from Jekyll to Hyde," he says. "He gave me his watch as a dying gift, which I misplaced in a drawer for three years. My wife gave me another, so when I found his, I wore both, keeping Swaziland time on his and London time on hers. Practical and sentimental."

In recent years, his vulnerability and honesty after his beloved Joan's death in 2021 has won him legions more fans on social media and beyond.

His book, A Pocketful of Happiness, which was published the following year, offered an insight into Richard's grief at losing his wife of 35 years. He still adheres to the advice Joan shared in her final days.

"Four days before she died, my wife advised our daughter and me to try and find 'a pocketful of happiness in each day,' which has proved to be an invaluable guide to navigate life after her incalculable loss," he says. "I'm on holiday in Tuscany today with our daughter - and perfectly happy."

If someone were to play Richard in a film, what should they be wearing?

"In summer, Indian cotton hand-printed shirts from Indigo Island and striped pants," he says. "In winter - polo necks and everything corduroy."

Richard E. Grant is appearing in conversation on the Revival Style Stage at Goodwood Revival in West Sussex on Friday 12 September. Tickets are available at goodwood.com