Andrew Garfield expressing why he'll never stop grieving his mother's death is moving people to tears

Andrew Garfield has opened up about the loss of his mother and it has moved us all to tears.

The 38-year-old actor appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert for the release of his new film Tick, Tick… Boom!

The film is an adaption of the acclaimed musical by composer Jonathon Larson, and is a semi-biographical story that follows an aspiring composer called Jon as he aims to make it in New York.

Tick, Tick, Boom!, directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, stars Garfield as Jon and the actor described being a part of the project as a method of healing.

Garfield lost his mother, Lynn Garfield, in 2019 following a battle with pancreatic cancer. The actor opened up on the talk show about his grief.

He prefaced his mentioning of his mother by saying: “I love talking about her, by the way, so if I cry, it’s only a beautiful thing.”

He continued: “This is all the unexpressed love, the grief that will remain with us until we pass because we never get enough time with each other, no matter if someone lives until 60, 15, or 99.

“So, I hope this grief stays with me because it’s all the unexpressed love that I didn’t get to tell her. And I told her every day. We all told her every day, she was the best of us.”

Garfield compared Larson – who passed away at aged 35 on the night of the preview of his show Rent meaning he never got to see the success of his hit musicals – to his mother.

He said: “For me, I got to sign Jonathon Larson’s unfinished song while simultaneously singing for my mother and he unfinished song.

“I’m indebted to everyone who’s brought me to this place so I can honour the most beautiful person that I’ve ever experience in my life through my art and use it as a way to heal, use it as a way to sew up our wounds.”

“Both John and my mother were artists," he explained. "And they were warriors for art. They knew the power of art, and they knew the power of leaving the world in a slightly more beautiful state than when they found it.”

He then thanked Carson for letting him speak about his experiences, in the presence of his father, and most likely left not one dry eye in the room.

Fans of Garfield have left glowing reviews of his performance as Jon in Tick, Tick... Boom! and shared their touching reactions to his emotional explanation of his grief.

Tick, Tick... Boom! is available to watch on Netflix now.