Dame Diana Rigg died in September 2020 at the age of 82 after a brief battle with lung cancer. Beautician Miss Zhu, 43, started giving the Bond star manicures and pedicures at the Nail Gallery in Chelsea in 2001 and became very close friends with her.
The beauty therapist initially said she didn’t know who the Avengers actress was until another client pointed out.
Miss Zhu commented, “She was so generous and down to earth that you wouldn’t know … she was happy with simple things in life like a cup of coffee.”
The late actress, to her surprise, left £ 5,000 of her £ 3.3 million estate to the salon manager.
However, she refused the money and instead gave Diana’s grandson.
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She explained her reasons to Mail Online: “I told Diana’s daughter that the money should go to her grandson because I did what I did out of love.
“We had a very special relationship.”
Jessica went on to say that Diana treated everyone in the salon “like family”.
The esthetician also revealed that she was by the late star’s side until the last minute of her life.
The lady began her professional career in 1957 in the stage production The Caucasian Chalk Circle.
From 1965 to 1968 she played Emma Peel in the television series The Avengers.
The actress’s famous roles also included her time as Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, wife of James Bond, in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, 1969, Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones from 2013-2017, and the title role in Medea on Broadway and in the UNITED KINGDOM .
The mother of one child was named CBE in 1988 and Lady for Merit to the Theater in 1994.
