Max George has publicly shared his grief after the death of his friend and fellow The Wanted singer Tom Parker.
Parker died in March 2022 from glioblastoma, an aggressive brain tumour, two years after a terminal diagnosis.
He had been a member of the band since 2009, along with George, Jay McGuiness, Siva Kaneswaran and Nathan Sykes.
George is currently a participant in the Channel 4 celebrity experiment, Scared of the Dark, in which familiar faces spend a week in total darkness.
On Wednesday’s edition (19 April) of the nightly programme, the one-time Strictly Come Dancing contestant opened up about learning of Parker’s ill health and his prognosis.
“I was shooting a movie and it was the last day of filming and my phone rang and it was Kelsey [Parker’s wife] and I was like, oh that’s a nice surprise.”
George recalled the difficulties of grasping what Kelsey was telling him about Parker’s health, as well as the donations and contributions that helped to prolong his friend’s life.
“What was lovely is that people from outside of our group and friends, even they chipped in to help. Ed Sheeran did as well. Yeah, that saved Tom’s life probably for like a year.”
George, 34, was candid about the impact that Parker’s illness and death has had on him.
“How do you deal with it? There’s no cure for that so you just sort of learn to carry on with your life I guess. But deal with it, definitely not. I don’t think I’ll ever be okay with it you know.
“One of the last things I said to him was – I thanked him for making my life so much better than what it ever could have been, you know, like that whole journey through being in the band.
“He was my best friend,” he added before he began to cry.
Since Tom’s death, Kelsey has been vocal about the need for more funding for brain tumour research. In February, she marked her first Valentine’s Day without her late husband with a heartfelt Instagram post.
Scared of the Dark airs nightly on Channel 4 at 9pm and concludes on Thursday 20 April.
