Lorraine Kelly has revealed what she 'needed to do' after her father's devastating death earlier this year. The ITV star opened up on The One Show about losing her dad, John, who passed away in January.
Heartbreaking news
The TV star shared the news of her father's passing on social media on January 11, describing it as a 'shock' to receive such 'distressing' information. Captioning a sweet photo of herself and her beloved dad, John – who worked as a TV service engineer and loved science and astronomy – Lorraine wrote: 'Very sad news. My dad has died. I am mourning the man who bought me a telescope when I was five years old, who watched the moon landings with me and taught me to always be curious and interested in everything.'
She added: 'He was in poor health but it has still been a shock. Any of you who have experienced a similar loss will know how my brother Graham and I are feeling. Our priority is taking care of my mum and the family would very much appreciate privacy at this distressing time. We will miss you dad.'
Emotional tribute on The One Show
Appearing on The One Show on Tuesday evening (June 16), Lorraine spoke to BBC presenters Alex Jones and Roman Kemp. Joining her on the couch were Independence Day actor Bill Pullman and Wham!'s Andrew Ridgeley. Speaking about her new book The Island Secret, the follow-up to her debut fiction novel The Island Swimmer, Lorraine was asked by Alex about her decision to dedicate the story to her father. From here, Lorraine paid a heartfelt tribute to her dad.
'I needed to do that for my dad. He was curious and always asking questions about everything. We went to visit NASA, he got me really interested in space. We both watched the moon landing, to go to where it happened was just incredible. He got me interested in all things to do with space. When something like that is in the news, I still find it very weird talking about him in the past tense. He did teach me to be curious about things. Nosey? I like to say I'm curious,' she said.
Scotland World Cup plans
Meanwhile, Lorraine opened up about why she's skipping Friday's episode (June 19) of her self-titled ITV talk show to fly to Boston to support Scotland at the World Cup. Loose Women star Ruth Langsford will be filling in for her. 'I had a couple of hours and then I set my alarm for 2am [to watch Scotland's game against Haiti]. It was interminable. I was screaming at the telly for the referee to blow his whistle. We got the win, that's the most important thing. I'm away tomorrow. I'm doing the show tomorrow and then I'm going to Boston for the Morocco game. I can't wait, it's going to be amazing. I think Scotland has taken over Boston,' she stated.
Asked by Roman if she was 'going full face paint', Lorraine replied: 'The whole thing. Absolutely, it's going to be amazing.'
