Gloria Hunniford became "deeply disturbed" when she lost her daughter Caron.
Gloria Hunniford lost her daughter Caron to cancer 20 years ago
The 83-year-old broadcaster "cannot believe" that it has been two whole decades since TV star Caron died following a seven-year battle with breast cancer at the age of 41 and admitted that while some days it feels like so much time has gone by since, others it feels like no time has passed at all.
She told Best magazine: "I really can’t believe it. Some days it feels like 100 years. Other days, it feels far more recent. I was in such a terrible state back then. I just couldn’t bear it.
"To lose a child, in my opinion, is the worst thing that can happen to anyone. I would worry about what my children would do if I died young, but you never think it could be one of them. I was deeply sad, deeply disturbed."
The 'Loose Women' star- who also has sons Paul and Michael with ex-husband Don Keating - set up the Caron Keating Foundation after receiving a letter from a woman urging her "do something" following the tragedy and admitted that since doing so she has learned to "live around" her loss even though the "black hole" of grief will always be there.
Gloria added: "It doesn’t matter what you do but – just to do something in their name – do good, it’s part of the healing when you lose anyone close. Otherwise, it will take you out. It was that stark for me but I knew that I had a lovely husband… plus Caron’s lovely children, my sons. In time, you learn to live around it.
"She is gone, the black hole remains, but you have to find a way to re-join life and for me, it was the foundation."
Ralf Little wants to play a villain.
The 44-year-old actor has just left ‘Death in Paradise’ after four years playing DI Neville Parker and now he’s ready to take on something very different to the “nice guys” he usually portrays on screen.
He told Big Issue magazine: “I want to push myself out of my comfort zone and do more things that scare me or that I maybe feel a bit intimidated by.
“And I’d love to play a villain.
“It would be so nice to just play someone horrible – I’ve spent my whole career playing nice guys. I want to surprise myself.”
Ralf hopes his ‘Death in Paradise’ stint has changed how he is perceived because he has spent so long being associated with ‘The Royle Family’, in which he played Antony from 1998 to 2012.
Asked if he thinks playing Neville has changed how people see him, he said: “Massively. I’ve had such a varied career and done so much, but ‘The Royle Family’ was so iconic and souch a touchstone of the cultural landscape that it’s only natural people are still talking about it.
“And I welcome that, because I loved every moment of it.
“But now people are talking about ‘Death in Paradise’ just as much.
“That evolution feels very satisfying. It’s the next step of my life.
“I was a kid when I did ‘The Royle Family’. I’m a middle-aged man now.”
The actor relished the chance to take on the “incredible challenge” of leading a show for the first time with ‘Death in Paradise’.
He said: “I’ve been incredibly lucky to have the career I’ve had. But until I was 39 years old, everything I had been in that had been a success was a big ensemble show.
“Leading a show is a big responsibility and I’d never had the chance to shoulder that so you never know if you can do it.
“No one took the gamble on me before.
“’Death in Paradise’ is beloved by millions. I was a fan before I went in.
“So it was an incredible challenge and unbelievably daunting.
“But it was so satisfying and exciting to make it work.
“Also, it didn’t hurt that I was doing it in the Caribbean.”
Stephen Mangan is terrified of being “stuck in the same thing”.
The ‘Split’ star is only too happy to juggle jobs including acting, children’s author, TV presenter and radio host because he has a “low boredom threshold” and feels the need to always “stretch” himself with no clear path in mind.
He told Britain’s HELLO! magazine: “I have a low boredom threshold and love the fact that at my age I’m still getting offered stuff I’ve never done before.
“I have a fear of being stuck in the same thing. For some people that’s calming and reassuring – we all have mortgages and bills to pay and I know some people find it hard without a routine or steady income.
“Careers also rise and fall and maybe I won’t get any work for a while. But I relish that challenge.
“I constantly need to stretch myself. I don’t know where I’ll be next year and I like not knowing.”
And while he may be very busy, Stephen – who has three sons with wife Louise Delamere – is keen to get on stage, but admitted theatre roles don’t always work well with family life.
He explained: “There are lots of theatre roles I’d love to have a go at, but plays are difficult with family life, because six nights a week you’re on stage and you’re not that good in the mornings either.
“There aren’t enough weeks in the year, or years in my life. There’s still so much I want to do.”
The 55-year-old star can soon be seen on screen hosting ITV’s new game show ‘The Fortune Hotel’, and he admitted it was an easy job to say yes to because filming took place over a month in the Caribbean island of Grenada.
He quipped: “That had nothing to do with me saying yes, I swear.
“I’d have been happy doing it in Neasden.
“Although I did have to tone down my phone calls home…”
Cheryl Fergison is "not shocked" that the wait times in A+E have increased.
The 58-year-old actress - who is best known for previously starring as Heather Trott on the BBC One soap opera 'EastEnders - had to visit the emergency department over the weekend because she needed treatment for an infection but is not surprised at having to wait 24 hours.
She told The Mirror: "From my experience, I am not shocked at the figures that have been quoted on waiting times in A+E and its increase over the years."
The 'Hard Cell' star initially took to Instagram where she explained to fans that she had been left in "complete agony" and had seen things that she cannot forget following the hospital dash.
She said: "I’ve seen things in the last 24 hours I can’t unsee. I’ve been in complete agony. There are simply no beds, no wards, no anything. People are waiting up to 60 hours to be put on a ward."
Chery recounted seeing a man who had sat waiting for treatment for more than 24 hours without being given a bed and claimed that while the NHS is "amazing", the system as it stands is currently in a "broken" state.
She added: "I met a man who had been there over 30 hours and still hadn’t got a bed.
“We’ve got a broken system. It’s shot but it’s still amazing and we still have it, just, by a thread."
Cheryl - who is married to Yassim al-Jemoni but has 24-year-old son Alex with ex-husband Jamshed Saddiqi - was treated in her local hospital in Blackpool.
A spokesperson for the hospital said: "We thank people for their patience."
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