Josh Widdicombe, who makes his presenting debut on Strictly Come Dancing in September alongside Emma Willis and Johannes Radebe, has opened up about the death of his family cat Beryl, describing it as "genuinely upsetting".
The 43-year-old comedian revealed that Beryl had been with the family for 11 years and is now in an urn in their home in Devon, alongside her sister Eddie.
Emotional confession on podcast
Speaking on the Parenting Hell podcast, Widdicombe said: "Genuinely, I'm still not really over it. I know this sounds mad, but I'm struggling to connect with the other two cats. I feel resentful of them. I just wish it hadn't happened."
The conversation turned existential as Widdicombe and his co-host discussed the differences between losing a human and losing a pet. He said: "There's something about an animal dying where if a human dies, you know, which is obviously much worse, just to put that first.
"There's a lot more questions when a human dies about what was my relationship like with them, should I have seen them more? Plus there's all that stuff back on yourself like 'oh my God, time's passing.' You don't get that with a cat, it's literally purely about feeling incredibly sad that the cat won't be there anymore."
Heartbreaking discovery
Widdicombe told how the family woke up one morning to find Beryl had passed away. He said: "It was incredibly upsetting for me and Rose (his wife Rose Hanson), I'll be honest. My daughter was very upset, but kids get over it incredibly fast.
"I couldn't believe how upset I was. I didn't even care about cats when we got them. I actually had to get a train to London. And then I was on the platform at Exeter St Davids. I had to go into the toilet because I was crying. Just went into the toilet cubicle and sobbed."
Pet cremation decision
Widdicombe also recounted how he was offered the option to save money on the cremation. He added: "Because the previous one you took to the vet, you see, so I phoned the vet. And they said, 'we've got this really nice man whose job is pet cremation.' A wild job to be fair. So he came and got Beryl.
"I told you what happened with Eddie, didn't I? They said, 'do you want to pay this for cremation or do you want to pay a bit extra for her to go through on her own?' So, well obviously I want her to go through on her own. I don't want the ashes of a load of cats."
Widdicombe's Strictly debut comes as the new series features celebrities including EastEnders star Lacey Turner, actress Jaime Winstone and reality TV star Dani Dyer.
