Jamie Lee Curtis remembered Richard Lewis not as a distant legend, but as the awkward, brilliant comic who became her anchor. She recalled spotting his face on a Sunset Boulevard billboard and insisting he audition for Anything But Love, a choice that rewrote both their lives. His nervousness, his hidden cue cards, his terror of live audiences only made his performances more piercing, more human, more unforgettable. Together they grieved lost friends, reshaped a failed pilot into a hit, and built a bond that outlived their show.
Then she admitted the most intimate part: Richard Lewis is the reason she is sober. He stepped in quietly, helped her, and never stopped caring. He found his own peace with Joyce Lapinsky, clung to love and sobriety as his compass, and kept telling people what they meant to him. Curtis’s farewell wasn’t polished PR; it was a cracked, tearful thank-you to the man who made her laugh, saved her life, and left her with a lifetime of gratitude.