BBC Radio 2 DJ Jo Whiley has been left heartbroken after her husband Steve Morton accidentally killed their family 14-year-old cat Simba by driving over her
Jo Whiley’s husband has accidentally killed their family cat. The 60-year-old radio presenter’s other half, music executive Steve Morton, is in a “world of pain” after he unknowingly ran over their 14-year-old Bengal cat, Simba. He had initially moved the cat to park his car but didn’t realise that she had returned to the driveway.
A distressed Jo confessed to her BBC Radio 2 colleague Zoe Ball, 54, on the latest episode of their Dig It podcast: “I feel like I haven’t been completely honest with what’s going on in my life, but I can’t – I just can’t talk about it.
“Sorry, I thought I should do it, but I don’t think I can. And God, it’s really hard to talk about, but I should do it because I think it’s actually relatively common.
“But we came back from holiday, and all the kids are out doing various different things. I went to my mum and dad, and I got a call from Steve in a complete panic.
“And he had come home, and he – it sounds ridiculous to say – but he’d run our cat over. And it’s really sad.”
Jo, who also has another cat named Gingin, a Sproodle dog called Brodie and a golden retriever named Boosh, continued: “It’s really awful. So, whereas once we were a family with four pets, we now have three.
“It was Simba, our cat, who was the old lady of the family. And I think we’ve showed pictures of her before, and I’ve talked about her before. She was the Bengal.
“In fact, we did. She was on the other day. She was our Bengal, and she’s about 14 years old. And she was really noisy and really, really hungry all the time. So she was always – had a very fierce presence.
“I ordered so much cat food that arrived yesterday morning, ironically, that he drove into the driveway and she was lying because it’s so hot outside. The animals have just been lazing around on the gravel.
“And she was lying there. And he literally drove in really slowly, he said. “And he got out of the car and went to move her out of the way, moved her, physically moved her, thought that she’d gone, and then drove the car in, and she hadn’t.
“We just cannot work out what on earth happened. And he’s absolutely distraught.”
Simba had a special bond with Steve, often curling up on his lap, leading him to playfully tell Jo that the cat was his “girlfriend”.
The radio presenter explained: “Because in those evenings when he’s at home, and I’m at work, and he’s always said, ‘Oh, she’s my girlfriend.'”.
“She wouldn’t sit on anyone else’s lap, she’d just go to him. So he’s in a world of pain.”
Jo and Steve share four children – daughters India and Coco, and sons Jude and Cassius – and she feels grateful they weren’t present during the tragic incident.
They are devastated by Simba’s passing – yet they remain more “concerned” about Steve.
Discussing how Steve is coping after the incident, Jo shared: “He’s okay. I mean, testament to my kids that they were upset about Simba, but they were more worried about dad.
“So, yeah, I’m giving him lots of love.”
