Adele Roberts has announced that her late mother died just a few weeks ago as she revealed her debut Dancing on Ice routine was dedicated to her.
The radio presenter, 44, took to the ice on Sunday evening for her first routine with her skating partner Mark Hanretty, 38. The pair performed to Grace VanderWaal's song Clearly and received the joint highest score of the night with 27.5.
She's since announced that her mother Jackie Roberts passed away, aged 61, earlier this month and that the performance was dedicated to her. Adele said she "didn't want to say anything" until the routine was over, with her adding: "So apologies if it seemed I was overly emotional."
Alongside some photos of her late mother, Adele wrote in a post on her Instagram account just last night: "For you Mum. Tonight's performance was dedicated to the memory of my beautiful Mum, Jackie Roberts. 01.09.62 - 04.01.24."
Adele shared: "I didn't want to say anything until I'd managed to get through our routine tonight. So apologies if it seemed I was overly emotional. My heart is broken and I miss my mum so much. Saying goodbye to her this week was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. My mum got to see the start of our routine… and tonight I wanted to finish it in her honour."
Love Island's Ekin-Su 'pushed down stairs by crush' as she recalls bullying hell"To my family. Thank you for keeping my head up and for giving me the strength to carry on. Thank you also to all the amazing people who came to help us say goodbye to her this week. You brought us so much comfort standing by our side," the contestant further commented.
She continued in the post: "Thank you to the whole incredible [DOI] team for guiding me through one of the toughest weeks of my life. Especially you [Mark]. I know how much you wanted to help me do my mum proud and I know it would have been playing on your mind all night. You are incredible. Thank you for teaching me to dance, to skate and joy of expressing emotion through my body. Your sport is so beautiful. I still can't believe tonight happened."
"Thank you to every single person who has supported us so far. We are absolutely blown away by your encouragement and kindness. Mark and I are truly grateful and we promise to keep trying our best and give it 100%," Adele added.
She concluded the post by writing about her late mother: "And to my biggest supporter from day one - my incredible mum. Goodnight my love. I shall think of you and miss you everyday of my life. Forever my hero. Until we meet again."
Adele - known for her work on BBC Radio 1 - and skating partner Mark received the joint highest score of the series so far for their performance. Their 27.5 score was matched by Eddie the Eagle and his skating partner Vicky Ogden.
An emotional Adele - who's spoken about how the show has been helping "reclaim" her body after announcing that she'd been diagnosed with bowl cancer in 2021 - told host Holly Willoughby: "Oh my goodness, everybody needs to try Dancing on Ice. What an absolute dream! It feels like I'm in the tele."
She further commented after the scores for her performance on Sunday night: "It's incredible. I can't believe it's happening and everything that I've been through has been worth it for this moment. Thank you."