Kirk opens up about death of his father
FORMER The Only Way is Essex star Kirk Norcross has spoken out for the first time on TV since his Rossendale-born father took his own life last year.
His dad, Mick Norcross, who also rose to fame on TOWIE as the owner of the Sugar Hut nightclub, was discovered in his basement on January 21 last year.
The 57-year-old entrepreneur was born in Haslingden and moved to Blackburn where he lived until he was four.
An inquest into his death ruled he had died by suicide.
Speaking on Loose Women, Kirk has now said he has suffered from depression and posttraumatic stress disorder after his dad’s death, experiencing flashbacks of the moment he found his father.
With the anniversary of his death arriving, Kirk said it has been “the quickest year and the slowest year ever”, the Mirror reports.
He said he still doesn’t think he has come to terms with his loss, noting that lockdown “really affected” his diabetic dad, who was forced to shield from the coronavirus.
Kirk said: “I can’t stress to people – you’ve got to tell people how you feel. “He was old school. “He worked in the docks in the 60s and 70s and I believe that era in men, [they think] it’s a weakness.
“I live next to my father, I was with him the night before.
“That morning, I was having my breakfast, and he did what he usually did, which was take a bit off my plate.
“And he was fine.
“He actually gave me his next business strategy and I was like, ‘Brilliant, if that’s what you want to do.’
“That afternoon he killed himself.
“I was indoors, having my lunch and I got a call from my dad’s partner saying, ‘I can’t find your dad’.
“And I don’t know why, even though I saw him that morning, I knew what had happened.
“We knew he was in the house, he’d locked himself in the house.
“I knew he was gone though, I knew the minute I saw him.”
Kirk struggled through
tears as he described smashing the door of his father’s house and giving him CPR inside.
He said: “It was surreal. It was like my life ended but I had so much to do at the same time.
“What would my dad have done in that situation?
“Once I gave him CPR and I knew it was done, I just laid with my father and told him it’s time to rest.”
Kirk has described his dad Mick – who had four
children – as his “best friend” and hero and has urged others to speak out if they need support.
He opened up about his own suicide attempt years ago, saying: “I didn’t think I had a purpose then.”
Kirk is a recovering drug addict, something which he said he is not “ashamed” to admit and said that he relapsed on the day after his father died, but he is now a couple of days away from being nine months’ sober.