Tom Parker’s widow said it is “really hard” returning to the Pride Of Britain Awards for the first time without her husband. Kelsey Parker said the event was “full of inspirational people,” similar to those she had encountered while dealing with her husband’s illness.
The Wanted singer died at a hospice near the couple’s south-east London home on March 30 at the age of 33 after suffering from an inoperable brain tumour. He had attended several Pride Of Britain Awards previously, with his band and last year with his wife.
Speaking to the PA news agency on the red carpet of the 2022 event, Ms Parker said “It’s really hard being back here without him. I didn’t realise how hard that was going to be for me. But this is an inspirational night and there are so many inspirational people here so I’ve just got to enjoy it.”
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She continued: “(Tom) came as part of the band and then last year we came together which was so nice, as husband and wife. This night is full of inspirational people and on the journey that we’ve been on, I’ve met so many of these types of people anyway so it’s great to just be under one roof with them.
“Even now after losing Tom the amount of charities that do stuff with grief – I feel like we need to shine a light on these good people because there are good people in the world. Sometimes we get so bogged down in all the bad.”
Parker announced in October 2020 he had been diagnosed with stage-four glioblastoma and had begun radiotherapy and chemotherapy, later writing about his experiences in a book titled Hope. Echoing the message of her husband’s book, Ms Parker told PA: “The whole time Tom was diagnosed we lived with hope. There is hope out there and you create your own hope.”
Parker was recently nominated for a National Television Award (NTA) for his documentary film Tom Parker: Inside My Head. The couple married in 201, their daughter, Aurelia Rose, was born in 2019 and they welcomed their son, Bodhi, in October 2020.
Kelsey also shared a video from their wedding day on Instagram to mark their fourth wedding anniversary, saying she missed the singer “immensely”.
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