Spare a thought for Martha Hancock – the estranged wife of Matt Hancock – as he heads into the I’m A Celebrity jungle tonight (November 9).
If it’s not bad enough that her husband of 15 years cheated on her, she now has to help their three young children navigate their father’s first foray into reality TV.
If they weren’t targets for bullies already following the CCTV of his wandering hands, not to mention the memes, then they surely will be when he’s on prime-time telly gobbling kangaroo anus.
His Bushtucker Trial debut showed Matt squealing while he was covered in bugs and guts.
Get used to it mate, you’re about to be subjected to them all.
I’m worried about Matt Hancock and wife Martha’s kids
To her credit, Martha Hancock has maintained a dignified silence following the emergence of that CCTV of Matt snogging his aide Gina Coladangelo.
She’s even reportedly holidayed with her estranged – and disgraced – husband during a family break in Cornwall.
One onlooker who spotted Matt at a fun fair earlier this year with his kids said he looked like a “normal weekend dad”.
But a normal weekend dad isn’t caught snogging someone he shouldn’t during lockdown.
A normal weekend dad doesn’t sign up to be covered in fish guts and grime.
And a normal weekend dad isn’t paid a reported £400k to do so.
‘Your dad’s eating anus!’ and other jokes…
As if those kids – two sons and a daughter – haven’t been through enough with the breakdown of their family unit, they now have to watch their dad ham it up in the jungle.
And even if they don’t watch it, the kids at school will – making them a target for bullies.
So has doting dad Matt actually thought of his kids?
Or is he just thinking of himself?
He certainly wasn’t thinking of Martha and the kids when he snogged his aide.
And he put himself first when he walked out of the family home to shack up with Gina.
This is no different.
He’s thinking with his over-inflated ego this time, though, as opposed to another enlarged piece of his anatomy that was clearly pivotal in his decision-making process when he walked out of the family home.
Matt Hancock leaves estranged wife to pick up the pieces
It was reported at the time that Matt woke up his youngest son – born in 2013, which would make him nine years old – to tell him he was “leaving the family”.
Presumably he wanted to get in there first with his side of the story. Before the boy saw his dad snogging another woman on the news.
When he resigned as Health Secretary, he said he did so because he needed to be “with my children”.
But now he’s quite happy to fly 24 hours across the other side of the world instead of carrying out those “normal weekend dad” duties.
Once again, it’s left to Martha to pick up the pieces. She’s been there for them during a time of heartbreak. Now she’ll be there for this fresh humiliation.
A target on their heads
Those kids have been through enough. The very last thing they need is a father appearing on reality TV. Doubtless about to air his dirty linen in public.
Children can be cruel, as anyone who has been bullied will know.
You’ll also know that the taunts can stay with you for years, with the effects sometimes shaping your character and lasting long into adult life.
Has Matt thought of this with his three, young, impressionable children? I doubt it.
Has he thought of the names they’ll be called and the taunts that’ll be thrown at them as their dad chows down on a crocodile penis? I doubt it.
Has he thought of the potential damage it could cause those three kids? Or is he doing it to earn a quick buck and set himself up with new love Gina?
I suspect it’s the latter.
When he left the family home those kids’ lives were never ever going to be the same.
But millions of divorced parents do make it work.
For the next three weeks at least, it seems that’ll fall to strong and steady Martha.
Read more: Petition to stop Matt Hancock appearing on I’m A Celebrity hits 20k signatures
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