The death of his 18-year-old son caused the end of his marriage to Doreen, which had been a “normal, loving relationship” until then, said Neville Lawrence.
He said: “Our world began falling apart from the moment the hospital staff told us our son had died.
“For some reason that I’ve tried to understand – and I still don’t – we couldn’t reach out to one another.
“We stayed together for another six years, but from that day we never physically touched one another again.”
Despite campaigning for justice for their son, Lawrence said he and his wife discussed “absolutely nothing” as a couple.
He added: “You know, in 18 years, me and Doreen have still never once talked about what happened to Stephen that night.
“About how and why he died and how it affected us.”
The couple divorced after 28 years of marriage in 1999 – six years after the racially motivated murder of their son.
Stephen’s mother Doreen said of her son: “It’s hard to believe that he would have been 37. I think about him practically all the time. Would he have a family? Where would he be in his career? I still have him as being a young man.”
Gary Dobson, 36, and David Norris, 35, were found guilty for the murder, which the judge called a “terrible and evil crime”.
Dobson was sentenced to at least 15 years and two months in prison at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, and Norris was given a minimum of 14 years and three months.
Britain’s top law officer is looking into complaints that the jail terms are too lenient and the killers’ sentences could be extended.
