Simon Thomas reveals his son’s memories of late mum Gemma are fading: ‘It’s so hard to hear’

The TV presenter's wife Gemma died in 2017
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Simon Thomas has shared his heartbreak at realising that his nine-year-old son Ethan is starting to forget details of his everyday life with his late mother.

The Sky Sports presenter’s wife Gemma died in November 2017, just three days after she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.

Appearing on This Morning to discuss bereavement, the former Blue Peter star said it was “hard” to hear that his son couldn’t remember details of the family’s daily routine.

“[Ethan] absolutely knows that mum is not coming back,” he told presenters Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield.

Grief: Simon Thomas opened up about how he helps his son deal with bereavement
ITV / This Morning

“What’s been really difficult for me in the last week is beginning to understand and realise that his memories of the every day with mum are starting to fade.”

He went on to explain that Ethan had struggled to remember whether his mum used to dress him or drive him to school.

“We were just getting dressed on the landing the other morning, as I’d always done with him,” Thomas recalled.

“He just turned to me the other morning and said ‘Daddy, did you always use to get me dressed in the mornings?’

“And I said ‘Yeah and I’d take you down for breakfast.

“He said ‘When mummy was alive, did she take me to school?’ and I said ‘Yeah, every day.’

“And already nearly 16 months later his memories of the day to day life with mum are fading and that is so hard to hear.”

He went on to say that he planned to use “videos” and “pictures,” as well as “memories [he] can write down,” to keep his wife’s memory alive.

Thomas previously revealed that the loneliness he had experienced in the wake of Gemma’s death had been “brutal.”

“You have a lot of time on your own with your thoughts,” he told Lorraine Kelly last year. “It hurts, it’s a brutal jump from that.”

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