Just hours after mourning the passing of her friend Willie Garson, actress Hilarie Burton made a solemn promise to her family, to help publish his memoir.
The 39-year-old actress published her own non-fiction book, The Rural Diaries: Love, Livestock, and Big Life Lessons Down on Mischief Farm, in May 2020.
Burton took to Instagram on Wednesday to swear to Garson’s family that she will help publish his book, while also revealing the tattoo she got in his honor.
Promise: Just hours after mourning the passing of her friend Willie Garson, actress Hilarie Burton made a solemn promise to her family, to help publish his memoir
Authors: The 39-year-old actress published her own non-fiction book, The Rural Diaries: Love, Livestock, and Big Life Lessons Down on Mischief Farm, in May 2020
Tattoo: Burton took to Instagram on Wednesday to swear to Garson’s family that she will help publish his book, while also revealing the tattoo she got in his honor
The One Tree Hill actress explained that she saw him in late 2019, when she was, ‘in the final edit of my book.’
She added that Garson, ‘came to play on a movie I was producing…elevating the material, always. We talked a lot about memoir, this weird industry, our families.’
‘He’d been toying with an idea for a book. An accounting of his career as a character actor. As someone who benefited from hours of Willie’s stories over countless dinners, I loved this idea,’ Burton added.
Book: The One Tree Hill actress explained that she saw him in late 2019, when she was, ‘in the final edit of my book’
‘So he did it. He wrote the book. And recently he asked if I’d help his family get it published for his son Nathen,’ she continued.
Burton described the book as, ‘a love letter to our industry, to storytelling and to the hundreds of people he worked with and made better over the decades.’
‘To Willie’s family, especially @nathen_garson, …on my honor I will see it through. You have been so generous in sharing him with the rest of us. Love you,’ she concluded.
Published: ‘So he did it. He wrote the book. And recently he asked if I’d help his family get it published for his son Nathen,’ she continued
She added that ever since Garson’s passing, her phone has been ‘blowing up’ because people know how Garson was a, ‘pivotal player’ in her life.
‘So I will not be able to fully articulate my feelings here. I’m gonna need some time. @jeffreydeanmorgan and I are devastated,’ she added.
Burton described Garson as a, ‘romantic friend’ who was ‘deeply thoughtful’ and ‘Intentional with his effort and attention and devotion.’
Devastated: ‘So I will not be able to fully articulate my feelings here. I’m gonna need some time. @jeffreydeanmorgan and I are devastated,’ she added
She also shared a photo of the wedding present Garson sent to her when she married Jeffrey Dean Morgan, a first edition copy of Grapes of Wrath.
She also included a photo of part of the note that he included, where he said it was ‘somewhat harder to gift people I care about so much,’ adding that that first edition, first printings of that book go for $15,000, joking, ‘I mean, I like you, but calm down.’
‘He would pay you the biggest compliment in the world. Tell you that you were the smartest or prettiest or most talented or that your book/show/recipe/charity, etc mattered and was valuable. And right as you’d blush, he’d temper it with “alright, calm down!” And then laughter. He’d stop you before you could rebuff the compliment,’ she said. Calm down. I can hear him saying it,’ she added.
She also included a photo of her at Hudson Valley Tattoo in Wappingers Falls, New York, where she got a tattoo on her arm that read ‘Calm down’ in his honor.
‘Before I went to see him, I needed him to know how I felt. And @hudsonvalleytattoo was so kind and understanding and got me in the night before my flight. I wanted Willie to know that I was carrying that “calm down” with me forever,’ she said.
Present: She also shared a photo of the wedding present Garson sent to her when she married Jeffrey Dean Morgan, a first edition copy of Grapes of Wrath
Calm down: She also included a photo of part of the note that he included, where he said it was ‘somewhat harder to gift people I care about so much,’ adding that that first edition, first printings of that book go for $15,000, joking, ‘I mean, I like you, but calm down’
Tattoo: She also included a photo of her at Hudson Valley Tattoo in Wappingers Falls, New York, where she got a tattoo on her arm that read ‘Calm down’ in his honor