"Hello guys, this is Anne Rice, it's December 9th, 2002. I have the very sad news, that my husband Stan died this morning, between 2:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. He had been struggling with a tumor in his brain for a little over four months. He went down very fast. Very fast. I just wanted to share that information with you, because so many of you have left messages saying that you were praying for him and that you were thinking about him, and I appreciate all of those messages very very much.
I was married to Stan for 41 years. As far as I'm concerned, he died young. I don't even know what the world is going to be like for me without Stan. It's been "Stan and Anne" for so long that I have no concept of it. I'll go on writing, of course. Because one of the great things about being a writer is that you can write in sorrow, in grief, and anguish. You can use your emotions to make something constructive, and something perhaps that will remove these things for someone else. Thank you so much for your response to BLACKWOOD FARM. You know how much I love that book. You knows it's filled with ways of death and dying and asking for death and dying. Keep giving your response. I love hearing from you. Maybe next year I'll be able to travel again. Maybe on a tour. I don't know.
In 1973, when I wrote INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, my beautiful husband Stan was the inspiration for the vampire Lestat. He had Stan's long blond hair and blue eyes and feeling grief that inspired Lestat's charm and magnetism and mesmerizing movement. And now, for the first time in 41 years, I'm alone. I'm a woman alone. It's a very strange feeling.
My heart goes out to all of you who are writing. All of you who are struggling with problems of your own. I hope that whatever pain I've sustained, will only leave me more sensitive to others. That will make me only more loving. I pray that happens.
I have a book already written, that will appear next fall. I'll tell you more about it as time goes on. Right now, I'm sort of thinking that Blackwood Farm is a state of mind; and I like to slip into that state of mind to console myself. Thank you for listening to me. Thank you for your wonderful messages. I truly love. I don't know where I would be if it weren't for you. Take care."
