United Kingdom, March 23 -- Maggie Gyllenhaal accidentally killed her husband Peter Sarsgaard's beloved bees after he left her in charge of his hives.

The 55-year-old actor is a keen beekeeper and has hives at the family's home in Brooklyn, New York as well as at their rural retreat in Vermont, but The Bride! director Maggie has admitted they were struck by disaster when Peter left his wife in charge of his precious insects when he went away to Europe for an acting job.

During an appearance on the SmartLess podcast, Maggie initially put the death of the bees down to a "beekeeping mistake". She said: "All of his bees in Brooklyn died because he made a mistake, he made a beekeeping mistake and he was so upset about it.

"I was like Peter ...