Presenter Simon Thomas has spoken about how his eight-year-old, Ethan, handles the grief of losing his mum so young.
The former Sky Sports host opened up on Lorraine.
Sadly, his wife Gemma past away in November 2017, just three days after she was diagnosed with leukaemia.
Speaking to Lorraine about Ethan, he said:
"[Ethan's] doing good. He surprises me every day with how he's dealing with it. His grief is beginning to manifest itself a little bit more. In terms of immediate family, he's only got me.
"And a child wants to protect you and they don't want to necessarily tell you everything that's going on in their head."
One person Ethan has turned to during this difficult time is his Aunt Rebecca.
"I know sometimes when he gets alongside his auntie Rebecca, Gemma's sister, he was being very expressive in how he's feeling and what he's going through," Simon explained.
"Because I think he wants to protect me a little bit from what's going on because he knows that I'll worry and maybe I'll cry. I've always been very open in my emotions."
The two are clearly very close, as the father-and-team son are a source of comfort for each other.
"This is where grief gets you – it's in the mundane… All the things we used to share, now it's just on you. And I just started crying. It hit me again, I'm on my own, I've got to struggle through this on my own. Within 20 seconds, I hear the pitter-patter of feet up the stairs he [Ethan] comes up and gives me a massive hug."
Following the death of his wife last year, @SimonThomasSky spoke openly to @reallorraine about how he and his son, Ethan, have been dealing with their grief together.
Warch the full interview: https://t.co/iPtOK1PKUG
For more info and helplines: https://t.co/McbCfUr4VV pic.twitter.com/tFFiZoIPZD
Warch the full interview: https://t.co/iPtOK1PKUG
For more info and helplines: https://t.co/McbCfUr4VV pic.twitter.com/tFFiZoIPZD
— Lorraine (@lorraine) July 12, 2018
In a blog post, Simon revealed that he left his job at Sky Sports to take care and support his son, after an emotional Ethan opened up after his mother's passing about their future.
Simon penned: "I'm doing it for Ethan. On that first morning after Gemma went, I remember Ethan coming up to me in the lounge and through his tears, he said these words:
'Daddy, you know every weekend you go away and do the football, and I spend the weekend with Mummy? What do I do now?' And they have stuck with me ever since."
