Gemma Atkinson Defends Mother's Day Post After Grieving Fan's Attack
Television presenter Gemma Atkinson has publicly responded after being "attacked" by a grieving fan on Mother's Day, as she opened up about her surprise weekend experience. The former actress revealed that a woman "went in" on her during the celebration after she thanked her own mother Sandra for always "showing up every single day."
Podcast Revelation of Direct Message Confrontation
Speaking with her Strictly Come Dancing professional fiancé Gorka Marquez on their Lost In Translation podcast, Gemma explained that one unhappy fan expressed their frustration directly in her direct messages over the weekend. "Basically, I said online what a nice day Mother's Day is and a woman messaged me and said, 'oh, it's nice for you, my mum passed away 10 years ago, I can't stand Mother's Day, da, da, da', really attacked me," Gemma recounted.
The presenter continued with a personal perspective on grief, stating: "Now, my dad passed away, you know, obviously everyone knows I don't have a dad. I have a wonderful stepdad, but that does not mean on Father's Day I attack those who do have a dad, who are lucky enough to have their dad around."
Personal Experience with Parental Loss
Gemma's father David Atkinson died from a heart attack aged 52 when Gemma was just 17 years old. Previously, the presenter has described her father's death as "a huge shock" as he was "fit and healthy and strong." Despite this profound loss, Gemma maintains a different approach to commemorative days.
"I still celebrate Father's Day. I go to the cemetery, I put flowers on. I get Mother's Day is tough if you've not got your mum, Father's Day is tough if you've not got your dad," Gemma explained. "Don't attack people though. She went in on me. It's not my fault." Gorka agreed with his fiancée's position, affirming: "It's not your fault."
Continued Response to Criticism
Gemma remained unsettled by the direct message as she continued to address the situation: "I understand people grieve differently, but she personally went in on me for saying Mother's Day is a lovely day. I thought I'm gonna reply, and then I thought, no, because she's clearly still grieving."
The presenter offered a hypothetical comparison: "But imagine if I, every Father's Day, kicked off at anyone who's lucky enough to have their dad. Be p****d off at the world and the circumstance, don't come in at me."
Gemma concluded with a reflection on parental appreciation: "If you're lucky enough to still have a mum and dad, you are incredibly lucky and it's only when you lose a parent you realise that. If they still ring you, if you still speak to him, it's incredibly lucky."
Fan Support and Agreement
Gemma and Gorka shared the podcast clip to their Instagram account, where several fans expressed agreement with the presenter's views. Supportive comments included:
- "You are so right, my mum passed away 7 weeks ago but I have bought her a card wishing her a happy heavenly Mother's Day and will celebrate my love for her every year"
- "That's awful to attack you like that gemma I lost my mam and dad, but I celebrate both special days, I have happy memories of them both, life goes on"
- "Totally right @glouiseatkinson - you're a fab mum too! Ignore people like this"
- "I lost my mum suddenly when I was 21 and she was 49. Does it suck? Yeah. Is that anyone else's fault? No. I buy some flowers or a plant every year in her memory and it actually makes me happy to see other people celebrating their mums and appreciating what they've got"
Gorka's Professional Developments
The incident comes days after Gorka revealed his new venture with one of the Strictly Come Dancing choreographers following reports of being "axed" from the BBC show amid its cast shake-up. The Spanish dancer, 35, joined the series in 2016 where he met fiancée Gemma, with whom he shares daughter Mia, six, and son Thiago, two.
Reports suggest Gorka is among several dancers being removed in what has been described as a mass cull, alongside Nadiya Bychkova, Luba Mushtuk, Michelle Tsiakkas and Karen Hauer. Brushing off the axing, Gorka took to his Instagram Story to reveal he is hosting a dance workshop later this year with Strictly choreographer Arduino Bertoncello.
Speaking to fans, Gorka shared that the workshop would occur in May and encouraged sign-ups: "Happy Tuesday, hope you're having a good, good day. After the workshops that we did a few weeks ago, Arduino and myself, a lot of the people who came to the workshops asked us if we're going to do it again. The answer is yes."
"We're going to be doing another workshop around mid May, because dates... doesn't work if not. So I'm going to leave a link here you can go in and follow and join the group so you can answer the question I wrote in there to know your preferences," Gorka continued. "What would you like to learn to dance? What you don't like to learn to dance? And yeah, so if you answer that, it will give us a good feedback so then we know what to do best for everybody."
The dancer added: "We will love to see you there. So you have a lot of time to think about it, because we are in March and it will be roughly two months time now. So I'll see you there. Arduino will be there, and we will have the best time. Happy Tuesday."
Spanish dancer Gorka has been on Strictly Come Dancing for nearly a decade, reaching the final three times with partners Alexandra Burke, Maisie Smith and Helen Skelton. He didn't have a partner last year because he was also filming the Spanish version of the show, though he participated in group numbers. Producers are said to want a "fresh start" for the BBC1 show, with new presenters expected to be announced soon after hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman decided it was time for them to depart.
