Roger Moore and his wife Kristina Tholstrup attend A Night Out With Michael Caine at Royal Albert Hall on October 1, 2014 in London, England. (Getty)
Roger Moore, the legendary English actor known for playing James Bond, has died at the age of 89.
This news was announced by Roger Moore’s family on Tuesday morning, with the actor’s loved ones saying he died after a short battle with cancer.
“It is with a heavy heart that we must announce our loving father, Sir Roger Moore, has passed away today in Switzerland after a short but brave battle with cancer,” his family said in a statement. “The love with which he was surrounded in his final days was so great it cannot be quantified in words alone.”
Roger Moore is survived by his wife, Kristina Tholstrup, and his three children, Deborah, Geoffrey, and Christian.
Moore was married four times in total, first to Doorn van Steyn, then to Dorothy Squires, then to Luisa Mattioli, and then, finally, to Kristina Tholstrup. Kristina Tholstrup was previously married as well; she was married twice to two Swedish tycoons, both of whom died and left her about $65 million, according to The Richest.
Here’s what you need to know about Kristina Tholstrup, the wife of Roger Moore.
1. She Was Moore’s Next Door Neighbor & They Grew Close After Her Cancer Diagnosis
Kristina Tholstrup
attends the presentation of the German-language edition of her husband’s new autobiography “My Word Is My Bond” at Dussmann bookstore on June 2, 2009 in Berlin, Germany. (Getty)
In the early 1990s, Roger Moore was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He would later say that this caused him to rethink a lot of things in his life, including his marriage.
“Suddenly I had plenty of time to think about my life and how close I had been to losing it,” Moore told Express. “I am ashamed to admit that I was thinking of changing my life completely.”
Moore started to be drawn to Kristina Tholstrup, a woman who lived near his home in the south of France. She had also recently been diagnosed with breast cancer, and this shared experience caused them to grow close.
According to Moore’s book My Word is My Bond, Kristina asked a mutual friend to pass on a message to Roger wishing him well, and he started thinking about her a lot after that.
“Kristina asked him to pass on her love to me and said she hoped that all would be well, and that I’d have a speedy recovery,” Moore writes in his book. “I knew that I wouldn’t be seeing her until after spring the following year, when we moved back to St. Paul, and I found myself starting to think about her a lot. She knew what I was going through and, as it happens, was thinking about me a lot.”
According to Hello Magazine, Tholstrup is a former flight attendant from Sweden.
2. She & Roger Started Dating in the 1990s
Roger Moore Moore and his wife Kristina Tholstrup arrive at the Closing Ceremony of the 2010 Monte Carlo Television Festival held at Grimaldi Forum on June 10, 2010 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. (Getty)
In 1966, Roger Moore married Luisa Mattioli, an actress. In 1993, Moore and Luisa Mattioli separated, and not long after, Moore began dating Kristina Tholstrup.
Tholstrup had been a friend of Mattioli’s, and Mattioli has said on several occasions over the years that she felt betrayed by Tholstrup, including in her book Nothing Lasts Forever.
According to the Evening Standard, there had been rumors that Moore had been having an affair with Tholstrup while he was with Luisa Mattioli because Mattioli was too “fiery” for him, although Mattioli said in her book that she did everything possible to make her husband’s life easy.
For years, Mattioli refused to grant Roger Moore a divorce, but she finally did in 2000. Moore and Mattioli reached a £10 million settlement, according to The Telegraph. At the time, it was known that Roger Moore was living with Kristina Tholstrup in Monte Carlo.
Moore makes clear in his book My Word Is My Bond that he felt he had truly found his soul mate.
“In Kristina I had found my soul mate and it has made me happier than words can ever express,” he writes.
3. She & Roger Were Married in 2002 at a Private Ceremony
Roger Moore and his wife Kristina Tholstrup in the Danish village of Mogeltonder on Saturday May 24, 2008. (Getty)
Roger Moore and Kristina Tholstrup were married in 2002.
According to Hello Magazine, the wedding between Moore and Tholstrup was extremely private, and Moore’s agent even insisted to members of the press at the time that no wedding had taken place, even though Moore’s son confirmed it.
Moore’s children did not attend the ceremony. Roger Moore had three children, Deborah, Geoffrey, and Christian, with his previous wife, Luisa Mattioli.
“We support his happiness and if he is happy then I am happy,” Roger’s son Geoffrey told Hello Magazine. “I did not go. There was no family there. He wanted to do it in a low-key way and went off and did it.”
Moore later said that he did not invite his kids to the wedding, not wanting to put them in an awkward spot.
“Actually, I didn’t invite them because I didn’t want to put them in a difficult position,” he told the Evening Standard. “They have great loyalty to their mother. But, in the end, I trusted we would all be reconciled, and we are. They now get on with Kristina and accept her importance in my life.”
4. They Traveled the World Together & Roger Said She Was the Love of His Life
Actor Roger Moore and his wife Kristina Tholstrup arrive at the Royal Film Performance and World Premiere of “The Chronicles Of Narnia” at the Royal Albert Hall on December 7, 2005 in London, England. The new big screen adaptation of C S Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe is held in aid of The Cinema And Television Benevolent Fund. (Getty)
Roger Moore and Kristina Tholstrup frequently traveled the world together.
According to the Evening Standard, Moore and Tholstrup spent six weeks out of the year in Monaco, another six weeks in Switzerland, and most of the rest of the time traveling the world because of Moore’s work with UNICEF. Moore was constantly doing charity work to help children.
“Since 1991, my work with UNICEF has taken me and, later, Kristina, all around the world,” Moore writes in his book My Word is My Bond. “These days, our lives revolve around UNICEF and its ongoing work – it’s the most rewarding things I’ve done.”
Moore says that it was actually Audrey Hepburn who inspired him to get involved in charity work.
“[O]nce it was impossible to find any Bond villains older than myself, I retired,” Moore told the Evening Standard. “I then met Audrey Hepburn who got me involved with Unicef and I realised I wanted to do something with my celebrity and privilege.”
An Express profile of Moore describes him as being head over heels in love with Tholstrup.
“There was a time when I’d have thought it impossible to fall in love at an older age,” Moore said. “I’d have probably mocked it in my younger days because I would have found it so unlikely and embarrassing.”
5. Kristina Had One Daughter From a Previous Relationship, Who Died in 2016
Roger Moore and his wife Kristina Tholstrup arrive for the official projection of the Cohen brothers’ film “Ladykillers”, 18 May 2004, at the 57th Cannes Film Festival in the French Riviera Town. (Getty)
Roger Moore had three children of his own: Deborah Moore, Christian Moore, and Geoffrey Robert Moore.
He also had a stepdaughter, Christina Knudsen, who was Tholstrup’s daughter from a previous relationship. Unfortunately, Christina Knudsen died in 2016 at the age of 47 after a battle with cancer.
“Our beautiful daughter Christina (aka Flossie) lost her battle with cancer 25 July at 10am,” Moore wrote on Twitter at the time. “We are heartbroken. We were all with her, surrounding her with love, at the end.”
We were all with her, surrounding her with love, at the end.
In the book My Word is My Bond, Moore explains why he called his daughter “Flossie.”
“Despite the fact that her name is spelt with a C and not a K, as in my Kristina, I found that I confused them when I said ‘Christina or Kristina,”” he writes. “Thus young Christina became Flossie. I should add that Flossie’s a very lucky girl – she looks like her mother.”
According to The Mirror, Roger Moore “practically moved in” with Christina as she was nearing the end of her live.
“Roger and her mum were always at Christina’s house while she was poorly,” a source told The Mirror. “They were completely devoted to her and made sure her final months were full of love and happiness. They are all completely devastated but they were always there for her unconditionally.”
