Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Tom tells how he held dying father’s hand
No Hope of Graz kiss
OLYMPIC diver Tom Daley has told how he held his dad’s hand as he died, and said death had taken his “biggest cheerleader”.
Tom, 24, who was 17 at the time, said he thought dad Robert was “invincible” until he died aged 40 from brain cancer a year before London’s Olympics.
On Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, broadcast today at 11.15am, he tells how he went home to find Robert “in a hospital bed in the living room”.
He added: “I was holding his hand as he stopped breathing. I finally acknowledged he wasn’t invincible, that he wasn’t going to be there.”
Tom and his husband Dustin Lance Black called their son, born to a surrogate in June, Robert Ray after Tom’s father. WHEN Susannah Constantine trotted on to the Strictly stage, it was the start of a new chapter in her life.
She’s overcome mental battles that saw her become a recluse and confronted insecurities over the way she looked.
And despite coming bottom of the leaderboard on last week’s show, she insists that she’s having the time of her life.
“It’s been tiring, exhilarating and empowering,” she said. “An emotional roller coaster but fantastic.”
Susannah, 56, was awarded the lowest score in Strictly history last Saturday, with Craig Revel Horwood calling her dance with partner Anton Du Beke one of the worst the show has ever witnessed.
But she says the pressure and criticism has not brought back the dark days she endured as she battled severe anxiety.
“The only time we are in tears is through laughter,” mum-of-three Susannah said.
Feeling stronger and more confident ahead of last night’s dance, the presenter said she’s already noticing changes in herself thanks to Strictly.
“I feel that I am able to remember steps a little bit more this time.
“I am definitely getting fitter and the next day I feel strong.
“I am miles away from Debbie McGee, she was incredible, but I am able to touch my toes now.”
Although in a much happier place, Susannah revealed how she still suffers from panic attacks and anxiety – and feared she would be diagnosed as manic depressive, like her late mum.
“I still have anxiety attacks now and usually it’s something you can’t put your finger on. Exercise does help with that enormously and quite often I wake up full of fear and I don’t know why. I have had it all my life,” she told us before taking to the Strictly dance floor.
“It comes from not knowing how my mum was going to be each day or each week. It’s a coping mechanism and it’s fear or flight.”
Talking about her difficult childhood, Susannah admits she was fearful that she’d be manic depressive too.
“Mum made numerous suicide attempts and was in and out of psychiatric hospitals.
“It left me with a fear of abandonment and I was vulnerable to panic attacks. I always felt a responsibility to keep an eye out for her and to keep her safe.
I was terrified that I had the same gene – my mother and I looked very alike – and that I would develop depression too. My husband Sten was very supportive and reassuring.”
Fashion guru
Susannah rose to fame alongside
Trinny Woodall, 54, VICK Hope has said her pro partner Graziano Di Prima is “pretty good looking”.
Vick, 29, split from actor Tom Rosenthal, 30, last year and says she is “fully single”.
But the radio host insists she and Graziano, 24, are just mates, saying: “All the dancers look amazing. Graz is pretty good looking. But he’s got a girlfriend.”
when they presented What Not To Wear. But as her career was taking off, Susannah was secretly at one of her lowest moments.
Twelve years ago her mum died, aged 76.
Around that time Susannah turned into a recluse as she was also deeply unhappy being a size 16.
Admitting to having a mid-life crisis, she said: “I stopped caring about my appearance and my well-being, although I did