Dame Esther Rantzen died on Tuesday at her Hampshire home, aged 86, following a three-year battle with aggressive lung cancer. The broadcaster and charity campaigner will be laid to rest with her late husband Desmond Wilcox, who died of heart failure 26 years earlier at the age of 69.
A Love Story That Began in Controversy
Wilcox, a celebrated BBC producer and documentarian, was already married to Rantzen's close friend Patsy and a father-of-three when he began an affair with the then aspiring presenter in 1968, shortly after offering her a job on current affairs show Man Alive. The couple married in 1977, but Rantzen later admitted the nine-year affair and its repercussions left lingering scars.
"To be honest, nothing happened for quite a while, but then it all got rather serious," Rantzen told The Express in 2015. "It was difficult because Desi had a family and I was friends with his wife Patsy. For about 10 years, it was… well, it was awful."
"With hindsight, could we have done things differently? No one can answer that. From where I stand, I can see three fantastic children, one grandchild with more on the way and the many years of happiness we shared together. We were soul mates in every sense of the phrase."
Life After Desmond
Wilcox's death in September 2000, after years of coronary heart disease including two heart bypass operations, prompted Rantzen to sell their marital home in Hampstead, north London, and move to a small flat. She remained single and never remarried.
"I had 32 of the best years of my life with him," she once said. "He radiated warmth and light into our lives and for the moment we fear that we have lost the sunshine we depended on."
The couple's daughter Rebecca told The Mirror: "If I were to believe in soulmates, I have the perfect example. I mean, they tried not to be together. They adored each other from the get-go. They lived through everything together. His last words to her were 'my love' and he just looked at her and it was, you know, that is … I suppose, if I believe in an afterlife, that is a positive, because she's going to get to see him again."
A Legacy of Compassion
Rantzen became a prominent voice in the fight to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales following her stage four lung cancer diagnosis in 2023. Her pioneering charity work includes Childline and the Silverline, a help and advice line for vulnerable older people.
In a statement released on Tuesday evening, her children Rebecca, Miriam and Joshua said: "Our adored mother Dame Esther Rantzen died today. Her legacy of compassion and understanding will live on in her charities Childline and the Silverline, and through those of us who were lucky enough to love and be loved by her. We are grateful she is finally at rest with her beloved husband, Desmond Wilcox, but we will miss her immeasurably. She was our sunshine. We will always remember her endless capacity for joy, her ability to comfort every heartache, her beautiful way with words and her expert guidance in all things."
