The Mirror, he said: "Damian got in touch a couple of days before the news broke, he let us all know. It was all very, very upsetting. "Nobody knew.
None of us knew what she was battling. "It was shocking and unbelievably sad. "Damian did such a tremendous job in publicly handling all that. "My heart goes out to him and to their two young children. "David and Damian became close when they were filming Homeland together.
The actor also paid tribute to Helen as "an incredible, wonderful woman". This comes after another of the Peaky Blinders actor's close friends said they were sworn to secrecy over her diagnosis.
Speaking earlier this month on BBC Radio Four's Today programme, Carrie Cracknell opened up about this. She said: "Very few people.
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