Barbara Robbin- What happened to Rik Mayall’s wife?

Who is Rik Mayall wife?

Barbara Robbin is a makeup artist and is also widely known to be the wife of Rik Mayall. Barbara Robbin’s husband was an English stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. Mayall formed a close partnership with Ade Edmondson while they were students at Manchester University and was a pioneer of alternative comedy in the 1980s. Mayall gained public attention after starring in numerous cult classic sitcoms throughout his career, including The Young Ones, The Comic Strip Presents…, Blackadder, Filthy Rich & Catflap, The New Statesman, Bottom, and Believe Nothing.

Barbara Robbin: Bio Summary

Born in 1955, Barbara Robbin is the wife of British comedian Rik Mayall. As of 2024, she is 69 years old. Robbin and the iconic British comedian had been married since 1985. Mayall was found dead in the couple’s South London home on June 9 in a death that has been described as “mysterious.” Before his death, In a 2012 interview,  Barbara Robbin’s husband, Mayall said about his relationship with the wife, “I’m not bragging, but we’re in love.”

Barbara Robbin was a Makeup artist

Barbara Robbin is a former makeup artist who turned Mayall turn into the character, Kevin Turvey, in the sketch show where they met, A Kick Up the Eighties. According to her Facebook page, she graduated from the Glasgow School of Art in 1978. Also on her page, Robbin advertises her detailed miniature dolls.

How did Rik Mayall meet his wife?

How did the couple meet? They met while Mayall was filming the sketch show A Kick Up the Eighties in 1981. At the time, Mayall was dating American writer Lise Mayer. According to Mayall, he and Barbara Robbin had an affair behind Mayer’s back until 1985, when the comedian eloped with Robbin to Barbados. Mayall decided to marry Robbin after Mayer became pregnant with his child. Mayer later suffered a miscarriage.

That didn’t stop the couple, Mayall and Robbin had three children later: Rosie, born in 1986, Sidney born in 1988, and Bonnie, born in 1995. Mayall credits his Rosie with forcing him to marry Barbara Robbin.

Barbara Robbin is originally from Scotland. She’s Jewish and Mayall said in a 2002 interview with ITV that the couple’s children were raised Jewish.

ALSO, READ; Rosie Mayall: Inside The Life Of Rik Mayall’s Daughter

“It is all down to my daughter, Rosie, who turned 18 last August, that Barb and I are together,” he said in 2012.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph,  Barbara Robbin spoke about Mayall’s death, “Maybe he had a fit, maybe it was his heart. We just don’t know.” He had been taking heavy medication since a quad bike accident in 1998.

Barbara Robbin was at Mayall’s side when he awoke from his coma in 1998. After his quad biking accident, the comedian was unconscious for five days. He said in an interview that she had gone into his room to say her final goodbyes. Mayall told The Daily Mirror:

So they say to Barbara, my wife, ‘he’s been dead for five days, it seems like a waste of time so if there’s no sign of life, we’ll unplug him in an hour’.

They left Barb with me and just before 5pm, the machine suddenly went beep, beep and she called the doctors and said, ‘look, he’s not dead’.

I don’t know if the doctors had said it really loudly to scare the s**t out of me but it worked.

ALSO, READ; Bonnie Mayall: Where Is Rik Mayall’s Daughter Now?

Is Rik Mayall’s wife, Barbara Robbin still alive?

Mayall later made a full recovery from his injuries. It was Barbara Robbin who gave Mayall the quad bike as a Christmas present in 1997. On 9 June 2014, Barbara Robbin’s husband, Mayall died at his home in Barnes, Richmond-upon-Thames, London, following a sudden heart attack after a jog. He was 56 years old. He was buried on his family estate, Pasture Farm, near Totnes in Devon. Rik Mayall’s wife, Barbara Robbin is still alive as of 2024. She is 69 years old.