Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield break down in tears as Simon Thomas opens up about wife's tragic death

Sky Sports presenter's wife died just three days after being diagnosed with leukaemia
Aime Grant Cumberbatch27 February 2018

Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield were reduced to tears during Simon Thomas's emotional interview about his wife’s death on This Morning.

The Sky Sports host described on Tuesday how wife Gemma passed away just three days after she was diagnosed with leukaemia in November last year.

Willoughby was visibly moved and had tears running down her face as the bereaved dad told of how his son had “collapsed onto the floor” on being told of his mother’s death.

Schofield went to get some tissues mid-interview for Willoughby and Thomas, who were overcome with emotion.

Thomas said: “My heart was pounding. He [Ethan] went in to see her twice that day. I didn’t tell Ethan she was going. I said, ‘Mummy is seriously ill’ and I held him to her ear a couple of times and he said he loved her and [then] he went to play with his cousins."

Moving: Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield were reduced to tears in a moving interview with Simon Thomas
ITV

“I looked into his deep brown eyes and said Ethan I’m really sorry they couldn’t make mummy better. You can’t dress it up. Mummy’s died. He collapsed onto the floor. I collapsed with him. I just held him. I would never wish that on my worst enemy.”

Willoughby apologised to Thomas for her tears, saying: ‘I’m sorry, you shouldn’t be having to comfort me as well.”

But later in the interview Schofield also became choked up with emotion as he told Thomas: “When you do feel ready to go back [to work]. Let us know and we’ll do whatever we can.”

Willoughby comforted him saying: “It’s alright.”

Bereavement: Simon Thomas opened up about the death of his wife Gemma
ITV

They weren’t the only ones moved to tears by Thomas’ tragic story, with viewers at home described the interview as "heart-breaking".

One wrote: “@SimonThomasSky interview on #ThisMorning is absolutely breaking my heart. I lost my Grandad relatively quickly to cancer, but to have a diagnosis and lose someone in a matter of days... I can't even imagine. What a strong man. I'm an emotional wreck, I can't stop crying.”

Another tweeted: “Just sat and cried at this morning Talk with Simon Thomas absolutely heartbreaking for him and his son Ethan my heart goes out to you.”

“In absolute pieces watching Simon Thomas on #ThisMorning,” commented a third.

This Morning continues weekdays at 10.30am on ITV.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in