IT was an emotional episode on Loose Women today as they panel broke down as Charlene White revealed some heartbreaking news.
Last week, Charlene, 44, shared photos of her “brother” Darrel, who died of Sarcoma cancer and said her heart had been “broken into a million pieces.”
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Kelly Brook broke down in tears as she spoke about grief from losing her father
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Kelly was seen comforting Charlene White after the tragic death of her best friend
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Charlene was emotional as she spoke about her late friend Darrel
On Monday’s instalment of the ITV daytime show, Charlene praised Darrel and his wife Emma for speaking about death openly with their children as a way of helping them with their grief after his passing.
Charlene told viewers: “I sort of wanted to concentrate on where children are concerned, having seen the way as a community, sometimes in the Caribbean community, we tend to decide we’re not talking about death, we’re not talking about grief especially with children and pretend it’s not happening.
“But in the way in with Darrel and his wife Amy have spoken and communicated grief and death throughout their dad’s diagnosis has been beautiful and very different to how my parents navigated it with me.”
Becoming choked up, Charlene said: “I’m trying really hard to get the words out today… with how they navigated it with us.
“I’m not saying that was in a wrong way at all, because you deal with grief with children with the tools that you have.
“What Darrel did with his children and what I’ve done with mine, is be very honest about it because that’s how we can give our kids the tools that they need to deal with grief whenever they come across it.
“As a family they’ve always spoken very openly.”
Charlene explained that her late friend was a campaigner to “stop other families going through what he’s been through” and to encourage other families to talk about it.
“Hiding from your own grief isn’t always the way to do it, and he put his own energy into making sure that people were able to deal with their own diagnosis,” Charlene went on to say.
Kelly Brook, who lost her father Kenneth Parsons in 2007 after battling with terminal lung cancer, also spoke about how she has dealt with grief.
She recalled: “I was there when my dad got the diagnosis, he was this tough scaffolder that I was ever so close with obviously. We were told six months, in the room ‘you’ve got six months, make plans’.
“It was never a mystery what we were dealing with and the grief started in that room.
“I remember walking out and my mum was a mess and I just couldn’t swallow.
“I just had physical symptoms of grief.
“I just spent those six months trying to create as many fun memories and spend as much time with him as possible.
“But when he did pass, because it had been so painful and I feel like we had been grieving since the day of the diagnosis, there is that element of euphoria when they do pass that they’re not suffering anymore and you’re not suffering anymore as a family and we can all move past it and try and come to terms with the fact they’re not there, even though the void is still there.”
Kelly admitted that for many years she struggled to come to terms with her father passing away.
“That manifested into different relationships were volatile, work, I think grief didn’t hit me until five years after. I think it hit me quite late,” she said.
“Whenever anyone goes through it,” Kelly said before breaking down in tears.
The model sobbed: “It makes me cry because I know what it is. I have so much empathy for anyone that’s had it or going through it because it’s the worst and all you can do is just be there.
“So just know that we all know what you’re going through and we’re all here for you.”
Judi Love was also emotional as she spoke about her late mum.
She said: “On reflection of us talking, my own traumas of a child and going to funerals and not getting information really scared me.”
Judi, who lost her mum in 2009 after a battle with dementia, said her daughter didn’t attend the funeral at the time.
A photo of Judi’s mum was then shown on screen, which left the star in tears.
Judi told the audience: “I didn’t know you were going to show my mum’s picture,” as she paused to take a moment to compose herself.
The comedian explained: “It’s now important to have those conversations, at the time I was probably more worried about how my daughter would deal would seeing me distress and I’m also trying to break that generational thing of ‘don’t talk about it’.
“Let’s talk about it so we can live, we can love, so we can enjoy and be there.”
Last week, Charlene paid an emotional tribute to her friend.
Charlene wrote: “There will be many of you who will aware of me talking about one of my oldest and best friends Darrell @djoptic and his mission to beat the enemy which is Sarcoma cancer.
“In the early hours of Saturday morning, four and a half years after he was diagnosed, after a week of saying goodbyes to those he loved, sharing stories and banter, he took his final breath surrounded by his wonderful wife @mrsamymcdonald and children Maya and Theo.”
The TV star continued: “He has been my brother since we met at 16 years old, I was the best man at his wedding, and god-mother to his eldest. The nonsense our little crew would get up to was hilarious back in the day, he was there for every milestone. My heart is broken into a million pieces.
“He was by far one of the kindest men I’ve ever met, and throughout his treatment he made it his mission to shine a light on Sarcoma alongside @sarcoma_uk in the hope no other family had to go through what he and his family went through: raising awareness, raising money, educating doctors. He was quite simply, amazing.”
Charlene praised her brother’s wife Amy, and also said she’d be returning to work because she “didn’t know what else to do.”
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The panel were left in tears during an emotional discussion
