GRIEF SO 3 HAR-DA’ TO BEAR
Tubs: Father’s death was like having landmines scattered
RYAN Tubridy opens up about his father’s death in the first episode of his new podcast, saying his daily life was “littered with landmines” when he was grieving.
The former RTÉ star spoke to comedian and children’s author David Walliams for the pilot episode of The Bookshelf, which can be streamed from today.
Walliams, who rose to fame on Little Britain and has gone on to write 40 children’s books, told the presenter that being a father to his 10-year-old son “makes life brilliant”.
However, he said being a dad has also made him reflect on his relationship with his father, and how difficult he found his death in 2007.
The author said when his father died after battling lung cancer 17 years ago, he found it strange that life just goes on as normal after losing a loved one.
Speaking about his own father’s death in 2013, Tubridy said: “Looking out of the back of the funeral car of my own dad and thinking that very same thing, going ‘Don’t you know this great guy is gone?’
“How can you be going in to buy bread? That’s so mundane. It’s most unusual, you forget your universe is just that.”
The former Late Late Show presenter said there were times after his father’s death that he had to try and “hold it together” after being overcome with grief.
Globe
He told Walliams: “It’s like someone flicked the globe and your landscape in your daily life is littered with landmines, with emotional tripwires and you suddenly find [you’re like] ‘Hold it together, hold it together’.”
The series will see Tubridy ask guests the same questions, including their favourite childhood book, the book that made them cry, and the book that changed their life.