Holly Willoughby broke down in tears during the latest episode of her YouTube show Together as she interviewed mum Crystal Owen, whose 17-year-old son Harvey died in a fatal car crash. The emotional moment came as Crystal shared her story and campaigned for stricter rules for young drivers.
Teen's death and the campaign for change
Harvey was on a camping trip with friends when their car left a rural road in Wales and ended up in a flooded ditch in November 2023. An inquest into the deaths of Harvey Owen, Hugo Morris, Wilf Fitchett and Jevon Hirst found that the driver was going too quickly around a bend, which caused the vehicle to come off the road.
Now more than 100,000 people have signed Crystal's petition to enforce Graduated Driver Licensing for young people aged 17-19. The proposed measures include a mandatory six-month learning period for learner drivers before they can take a practical test, and a rule that for the first six months after passing their test they should not carry passengers aged 25 and under.
Crystal appeared on the former ITV star's show to discuss the measures she and 150 other bereaved families want to be put in place.
Last moments with her son
Recalling the last moment she spent with her son before his death, Crystal said: "That night, he was sitting on the end of his bed and he started playing Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash [on his guitar], and it was a new song he'd not played before.
"I just sat and said, 'Oh, Harvey, I'm so proud of you', and he said, 'Oh stop doing the freaky stare'. He used to call it the freaky stare because he'd been going to the gym and he'd shot up, and I'd just stare at him and think, 'Where's my little boy gone?'
"I just had one of those moments staring at him. I said, 'How do you learn all these songs?' and he said, 'Just practice and practice.'
"I went to give him a hug and he used to do this thing where he'd nudge his head forward, because he's too cool for hugs.
"We spoke a bit about his plans for the weekend, and his little sister, our youngest, Olivia, she was his favourite. She was so cheeky. She was dancing around… but then the last time I saw him made it harder in the decisions I had to make."
Emotional impact on Holly
She then explained: "Because of his age, we all had to sit in a room and go through everything. They told me I could see Harvey now, and I totally wasn't prepared for it mentally.
"It just felt like I was in a horror film. I just can't put it into words. Because of that, it made it hard to even see him, because I didn't want that last image in my head to be the last. I didn't want to see him in that way."
Crystal said: "When there were no screams left, I remember just staring at my own hands, thinking that those hands didn't belong to me. I was literally not in my own body."
An emotional Holly admitted through tears: "Sorry, that slightly got me then, that bit. For every parent, it's the worst imaginable thing that anyone's going to go through."
She told Crystal: "I'm so sorry. I don't know how you get over something like that," and the grieving mum admitted: "You don't."
