Rev Richard Coles opens up on grief for late partner David: 'It's a good thing, a tribute you pay'

Rev Richard Coles has opened up on the grief he feels for his late partner David, saying it is a "good thing" and a tribute to how much he loved him.

The priest, broadcaster and former Strictly Come Dancing contestant will feature in Channel 4 documentary Good Grief with Reverend Richard Coles tonight (Monday) and spoke on Good Morning Britain about his experiences of losing his partner David to alcoholism in 2019.

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He told hosts Richard Madeley and Charlotte Hawkins that he was still sometimes "destroyed for a second", but added: "Grief is not a bad thing, it's a good thing, it's a tribute you pay to the people you loved and who made your life wonderful."

Coles will board a "grief cruise" in the documentary, a cruise where all of the passengers are coming to terms with loss and support each other.

Talking to him about his own experience of loss, Madeley explained how when he was 21, his father had died very suddenly.

He said: "I loved him very much and I felt his loss incredibly keenly and I remember looking back on it now - the grief was total.

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"I was back to work after a couple of weeks but the grief was still there. The way it lifted was like in little incremental jolts.

"A summers morning a year after he died, getting up and going to the shops and realising I hadn't thought about it for the first time in a two hour period and I realised it was getting better.

"Did you find that with the loss of your partner David?"

But Coles answered: "It's not a smooth or an orderly process, it's different for everybody.

"Sometimes you get a bit frustrated by people telling you what you should feel. Because there's no 'should' to what you feel, you just feel what you feel."

He continued: "What happens as time goes by every day is another 24 hours with that person not materially in your life and you begin to get used to it but you don't get better.

"People often say, and it's well intentioned, 'are you getting over it?' But actually, you get over a cold, you don't get over this, and you just learn to live in a new reality.

"Sometimes out of the blue something will happen and you'll be destroyed for a second. But grief is not a bad thing, it's a good thing, it's a tribute you pay to the people you loved and who made your life wonderful."

Good Grief with Reverend Richard Coles airs tonight (Monday) at 10pm on Channel 4.

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