People who have never owned a pet can never understand the pain of losing one – for many it’s almost as traumatic as the death of a human family member.
Tearful Holly Willoughby revealed her beloved cat Roxy had died on today’s This Morning and revealed how hard it was to tell her three children about the family pet passing.
She broke down in tears as she recalled the shock death over the weekend.
“We went to sleep and we left her and when we got up she had passed away in her sleep,” explained the presenter.
“There had been nothing wrong with her. It was a real shock for everybody. She was a big part of the family, always been there for the kids.”
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The blonde admitted the hardest part of all was breaking the tragic news to her children Harry, seven, Belle, five, and Chester, two.
“It was interesting breaking the news to them [the children]. For all of us, I think it was a very big life lesson,” added the 34-year-old.
“Belle was wailing, Harry was very quiet and didn’t really say a thing.
“But before bed he went, ‘I’ve been really brave today, I haven’t cried.’ And I said, ‘It’s OK, you don’t have to be brave.’ And then he went [started crying].”
Holly’s co-host this week Ben Shephard then revealed his young family had also suffered a bereavement over the weekend; sons Jack, 11, and Sam, nine, were left devastated after their pet rabbit was mauled by a fox.
He said: “We had some bad news last week as my sons’ rabbit was eaten by a fox.”
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So moved were the pair of them, that today’s phone-in was dedicated to dealing with a pet death in the family.
Holly admitted: “I feel a bit silly saying it because it’s only a cat but it’s part of your family. We thought we’d have a phone in of this today because it affects so many people.”
Awww. RIP Roxy and Bunny Shephard.