William Shatner found Nerine Kidd’s lifeless body in the swimming pool of their Hollywood Hills home around 10 p.m. on August 9, 1999, CNN reported. She was 40 years old. Autopsy results found Kidd’s blood to have elevated levels of alcohol and sleeping pills, according to The Los Angeles Times. Kidd’s body also showed injuries to her face and neck, which led authorities to conclude she jumped head-first into the pool and hit the bottom of the pool, the report detailed. Kidd’s cause of death was attributed to accidental “drowning associated with neck trauma,” per People.
Kidd dealt with addiction for years — an issue that affected the marriage, according to The Biography Channel. The LA Times noted Kidd had been convicted of drunk driving on several occasions and undergone rehabilitation. “My grief was overwhelming. This was the type of pain that makes you think either I’m simply going to die or I’m going to kill myself,” Shatner wrote in his 2018 memoir “Live Long and…: What I Learned Along the Way.”
Despite their marital struggles, Shatner never stopped loving Kidd, he said on CNN‘s “Larry King Live” in February 2002, while also describing the extent of her illness. “My wife, whom I loved dearly and who loved me, was suffering with a disease that we don’t like to talk about — alcoholism — and met a tragic ending because of it,” said the actor.
