Former BBC Breakfast presenter Bill Turnbull opened up about the effect his cancer was having on his wife back in 2020.
The TV star, who passed away on Wednesday (31 August) aged 66, was diagnosed with incurable prostate cancer in March 2017.
Three years after being diagnosed, the veteran broadcaster spoke candidly about his marriage with Sarah McCombie and revealed he felt he was “inflicting pain” on his wife because of his health battle.
READ MORE: BBC Breakfast star Bill Turnbull dies aged 66 after battle with prostate cancer
He told Mail Online: “You’re inflicting pain on them. Personally I can deal with it but seeing them upset was horrible. Most of the time I’m fine, but every once in a while you have a dip.”
(Image: SF1)
The radio presenter admitted the hormonal treatment often made him emotional, to the point where he would “howl like a child.”
“You have a really bad day and howl like a… I was going to say like a child, but it’s even worse than that,” he explained.
He went on to say: “If Sesi (his pet name for his wife) is there with me, it’s fine because I can lean on her. She helps me. I hate being on my own now.
“It gives you too much time to think and you can talk yourself into a dark place,” the presenter added.
(Image: Ed Watts / Retna Pictures)
Bill married Sarah in 1988 and the pair share three children together – Henry, 34, Will, 33, and Flora, 31.
Bill admitted that telling his family he had the disease was “very hard” but went on to say that it brought him and his wife closer.
“I sometimes think, what must it be like for people who don’t have anybody in their life who get diagnosed with cancer?” the broadcaster said.
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
“If you have somebody else with you, particularly someone who loves you truly, madly, deeply, with whom you’ve been for more than 30 years, you can laugh and cry with them. They distract you in many ways. If you have nobody, that’s pretty tough.”
He told the publication: “We go through it together. It has brought us even closer than before. We laugh a lot —– most of the time. And work is also a distraction.”
The tragic news of Bill’s passing was announced in a family statement on Thursday (September 1) which described him as a “wonderful father and husband”.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
