Dear Gloria… Meet best’s new agony aunt
She’s a mum-ofthree, and a grandmother of 10. She’s learned to live with the devastating death of her daughter to cancer and her sister to dementia. She’s been divorced, spent years as a single mum and negotiated the tricky path of remarriage and step families. It’s fair to say she’s coped with more than her fair share of ups and downs - both on and off screen. Here, the
Rip Off Britain presenter explains what makes her the right woman to help you cope with anything from being scammed to surviving the searing pain of losing a child… Hi, Gloria, and welcome to the best team. Why are you so well qualified to be our new agony aunt? Well, I’ve lived a bit, suffered a bit… been around the block, as they say [ laughs]. But, seriously, there is little I haven’t experienced. I’ve been divorced, lived for a time as a single mum, remarried, lost my parents and my sister, Lena, and sadly, also, my darling daughter. Loss is loss and is obviously always sad, but the pain of losing a child goes so much deeper. It’s steps beyond what anyone should ever have to cope with. You lost Caron 13 years ago next month. Does time make coping any easier? It’s very hard to get your head around it. In the beginning, you don’t think you will ever smile again. You will never get
Next week, presenter Gloria Hunniford joins
best as our new agony aunt. Here, she talks about surviving her own share of trouble and heartache…
over it, but eventually you learn to live in and around the black hole. I’ve always believed that people never die if they live on the lips of the living, so I wanted to talk about Caron all the time in the early days. I still do, in fact. It keeps her alive.
Is there anything people can do to help during those early days?
Just be there. Make food. Listen, because you are in deep mourning.
Today, you run the Caron Keating Foundation…
Yes. When I lost Caron, all I wanted to do was talk to a mother who had lost a child. So, even now, I spend a lot of my time talking to other women who have lost children. They write to me and I call, which often shocks them. They are usually very grateful. How will you mark the anniversary of her death on 13 April? We always raise a glass and try to be together as a family. My grandsons – Caron’s boys, Charlie and Gabriel – are always with me. I try not to let them see me cry. We prefer to celebrate Caron’s life. Children are great copers, but I don’t want to make it harder for them in any way.
How many grandchildren do you have?
Ten in total. Stephen [ hairdresser Stephen Way] and I are very lucky. Family is very important to both of us.
Stephen is your second husband, isn’t he [Gloria’s two sons Michael and Paul are from her first marriage to Don Keating]?
Yes. Look, we all go into a marriage hoping it’ll be for ever, but that isn’t always the case. Things slip – your lives go in different directions. I don’t believe separation makes the heart grow fonder; you have to feed and nourish relationships. But I do believe there’s someone for everyone.
So hope springs eternal…
Yes! Look at any people you meet as if they’re a new friend, and see where it goes, I say. Never give up hope.
GOT A QUESTION? Email deargloria@hearst. co.uk, or write to best magazine, 33 Broadwick Street, London W1F 0DQ