Robbie Coltrane battled a hidden health issue before he died which left him in pain "24 hours a day".
The screen icon passed away aged 72 on Friday, his agent announced in a statement released this evening.
Robbie spent his final years suffering from declining health due to osteoarthritis which left him struggling to walk.
The actor sparked concern back in 2019, when he was pictured in a wheelchair and looking frail.
At the time he was awaiting knee replacement surgery, after osteoarthritis completely destroyed his joints.
In September 2020, Coltrane then spoke out about his health himself and said: “I was fighting pain 24 hours a day when I was in National Treasure and Great Expectations.
“I had no cartilage in my knee. It was bone on bone.”
Going on to say he wouldn’t wish such pain "on [his] worst enemy," before his surgery, Robbie was left so debilitated he couldn’t walk unassisted.
Fortunately, by 2020 the actor had found some “relief from pain” as he was able to have the long awaited surgery.
The star added: “It was just horrible. The relief from that pain since the operation and being able to sleep has changed my life.”
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, affecting millions of people worldwide. Some people know the condition as degenerative joint disease or “wear and tear” arthritis.
Occurring most frequently in the hands, hips, and knees, the condition first develops as a joint begins to break down and the underlying bone begins to change.
This breaking down of bone can happen as part of normal life as joints are exposed to a constant low level of damage.
Robbie was forced to take four years away from acting in 2012 due to ill health.
He did however, return for HBO's Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return To Hogwarts - where he spoke of how his legacy as Hagrid would live on.
Robbie said: "The legacy of the movies is that my children's generation will show it to their children, so you could be watching it in 50 years' time easy."
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