Tisha Taylor Is Charlie Murphy's Wife Who Passed Away Early - He Never Got over Loosing Her

Tisha Taylor captured Charlie Murphy's heart the moment he saw her. They spent 17 years in total together, during which they had two children before her untimely death.

After losing his wife of 12 years, Tisha Taylor Murphy, Charlie Murphy never remarried. At the prompting of his daughter, he did eventually start dating.

The "Night at the Museum" star stated that once people reach the age of 65, sadly, neither he nor his wife lived long enough to prove this point.

Tisha Taylor Was a First-Sight Love for Charlie Murphy

Trisha and Charlie met one evening in the early nineties on a boat where she was having dinner with friends. He fell for her instantly and asked her to leave with him. Against the advice of her pals, she obliged the comedian. The actor said that he drove her to Eddie Murphy's home:

"My mother was there. My stepfather was there. Eddie was there. They were all in the kitchen. I walked in and said, 'This is my future wife.'"

The couple married after five years together in 1997. She was a stepmother to his son from a previous relationship, and they had two more children, Xavier and Eva.

Tisha Taylor's Disease Was a Blow to the Murphy Family

Charlie found his beloved wife crying in their children's room before she broke the news of her cervical cancer. The comedian struggled to grasp how a young woman who did not smoke or take drugs and liquor could suffer that way. He said:

"When the person tells you they're going to die, you go crazy. You become a different person from the moment you hear those words."

Two years after the diagnosis, Tisha died in her sleep in their Englewood, New Jersey home on December 13, 2009. True to her organized nature, she had made her own funeral arrangements.

Xavier was 10, the same age Charlie was when his dad Charles Murphy died; knowing the "depth of the wound," he could comfort his son. Eva was still a toddler and asked after her mommy daily.

He protected them from the "toxicity" of Los Angeles.

He grieved openly for Trisha six months later in an interview. He admitted to not being okay, that you will never really be okay once losing someone; you merely learn to "live with it."

Family's Life after Tisha Taylor's Tragic Death

Providing for his children meant that there was no time for Charlie to take time off from work to grieve, fearing that his career would cool if he was away.

Even after hiring a nanny, he strived always to take his children to school in the mornings and cook for them at night. He insisted that a "nanny is no mommy":

"A daddy has to be there, I show up for my kids, and my kids see me as much as I possibly can. Every morning, every night. "

It was to ensure his children's comfort and well-being that he did not uproot the family to San Diego as he wanted to, allowing them to stay with their friends at the same school. He protected them from the "toxicity" of Los Angeles, refraining from joining his brother in the city to be closer to the movie industry.

The breakout star of Dave Chappelle's sketch comedy show died from complications relating to leukemia on April 12, 2017. Charlie, 57, had been undergoing chemotherapy at a Manhattan hospital.

Fellow comedian DL Hughley highlighted the dad of three's dedication to his family, tweeting that Charlie rushed home to his children after every gig. At his death, the "Norbit" funny man still had gigs lined up.

Chris Rock mourned his passing by giving the star his due, "We just lost one of the funniest, most real brothers of all time." Chance The Rapper called him a "great man."