Natasha Richardson has been transferred to a New York hospital after her ski accident near Montreal on Monday.

The actress daughter of Vanessa Redgrave and wife of Liam Neeson is believed to have had a minor fall while on holiday at Mont Tremblant and a spokesperson for the resort explained: “She was laughing and joking and she walked to her room on her own. She wasn’t confused. She knew where she was, and was in full control. There was no visible injury, no sign of impact.”

But once back in her room at the Quintessence hotel, she began complaining of headaches and was rushed to a nearby hospital where a CT scan revealed the extent of her “traumatic brain injury”. She was transferred to a better-equipped hospital in Montreal on Monday night then was flown by private jet with a full medical team to a third hospital in New York yesterday.

A spokesperson for the hospital confirmed the New York transfer was “at the request of her family” and her mum, sister Joely Richardson, aunt Lynn Redgrave and sons Michael & Daniel were later seen arriving at the Lenox Hill Hospital. Husband Liam is said to have been at her bedside since flying in from Toronto as soon as he heard about her hospitalisation on Monday.

Natasha and Liam, who married in 1994, are based in Manhattan with their teenage sons and also have a second home just outside of the city.

One source said Liam had “brought her [home] to New York to die - to spend one last day with her family”.

Another friend of the family has claimed Natasha is already “brain dead”: “No one can believe what has happened, that this once vibrant woman, full of love, of life, is lying there brain dead.”