Joe Swash faced a heartbreaking family tragedy when his father died when he was only 12-years-old.
But to get through it at such a young age, Joe tried to block it out and not let his family know just how upset he was at his father’s death. And in 2023, he opened up in an interview alongside his mum, Kiffy, about how the family managed to keep going.
Joe is now happily married to Stacey Solomon and the pair have their own TV show Stacey & Joe on Tuesday’s on BBC which gives fans a glimpse into their lives together with their blended family. But Joe’s life hasn’t always been that easy, and he even thought he could have ended up somewhere completely different if it wasn’t for his mum.
What happened to Joe Swash’s dad?
Joe’s dad, Ricky, died suddenly from the undiagnosed heart condition sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome. And the loss devastated Joe, who admitted those days were the “worst” of his life.
There was one thing that Joe was determined to do after his dad’s death – to make sure his mum didn’t see him cry at all.
Speaking about this, Joe told The Times that this decision was to protect his mum and his sisters. And looking back, he knows his dad’s death changed him as a person.
He said: “I didn’t cry in front of my mum and my sisters because I didn’t want to set them off. And I got very angry when they cried. I couldn’t stand it. And I still can’t relate to the boy I was when my dad was alive. I feel really sorry for him because he got left behind.”
However, it wasn’t just heartache that Joe was dealing with. His dad’s death brought him a new sense of fear. And so he spent a lot of time worrying about the possibility of losing his mum, too.
Joe began to worry about his mum’s health after dad death
“My mum worked nights as a cleaner and I always wanted to help. I wanted to protect her but I was also terrified that if she died too then we would be orphans. Those three or four years watching her deal with dad’s death were some of the toughest of my life. But it was harder for her.”
Thanks to Kiffy encouraging Joe Swash to attend drama school and follow his dreams he was able to find a way to deal with his grief with his dad dying. And that stopped him from turning down a path of criminal behaviour – something which he thinks was a very big possibility for him.
He explained: “It would have been easy to fall into criminality. A lot of the kids I grew up with in Islington are dead or in prison. Mum kept me on the straight and narrow. When we all left home she felt she had more to give, so she trained to be a foster mum.”
Stacey & Joe airs Tuesday’s at 8pm on BBC One and BBC Iplayer.
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