This Morning's agony aunt Deidre Sanders has spoken of her grief after losing her husband of 55 years, saying she cries every day at home.
Diedre's husband Rick died just before Christmas and days after the daytime TV favourite, 77, had been awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List for 2023.
Today on This Morning she opened up about her grief during the Dear Deidre segment, after a caller rang in, following the loss of two of her own relatives.
Deidre said she could relate to the caller, having lost her husband six weeks ago.
"I really know from the heart just how hard it is," she said, "we were together for 55 years, that's a heck of a thing to move on from."
Sharing advice, she said: "I have found it helps to almost split into two, I still cry every day at home, I miss him, I feel those really sad thoughts."
She urged the caller not to suppress her grief, "it's nature's way of healing us," she added.
Diedre also advised keeping busy, saying: "I have filled my diary pretty much for the next two months. Reach out to friends."
The caller descended into tears near the end of conversation, and host Phillip Schofield urged her to stay on the line so This Morning staff could talk to her.
Diedre also said she would continue to speak to her, after the segment ended.
Two weeks ago, Diedre returned to This Morning, where she told Phillip and co-host Holly Willoughby that Rick knew about her MBE, which she received a call about prior to his death, and that he even made a joke about it.
Phillip added: “It's a nice bright light in quite a sad time for you,” which she agreed it was.
She said: “It's been very much a rollercoaster with losing my husband. But he did know about the MBE before he died, so that was lovely. He could tease me about it.”
Deidre first announced her bereavement on a video call to the programme at the start of this year as she spoke with hosts Andi Peters and Josie Gibson.
She said: “A special thing for me was, a lot of you know my husband died just before Christmas on December 16th.
“But this call came through about a week before he died so that was really special. I could share it with him and say what had happened.
“I was with Rick for 55 years, so that was really great. He was always a great tease so he had to get in a few digs first. But he did the next day tell my daughter and tell me just how proud he was, so that made it extra, extra special.”
She continued: “It was lovely that we could share that, I think had he died before I got that news, it would have always just been a bittersweet thing so it’s lovely that we could share that.”
