Just over six years ago, Simon Thomas was in the depths of despair after his wife Gemma died suddenly, leaving him to bring up their son Ethan alone.
But since then, the TV host’s life has been turned around after he found love again, had a second child and is now preparing to welcome his third into the world. Gemma died at the age of 40 just days after she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in 2017.
Sky Sports Soccer Saturday host and former Blue Peter presenter Simon stopped working after the tragedy as he focused on Ethan. A new relationship blossomed with Derrina, and they married in 2021. The couple had daughter Talitha the following year. She is nearly a year and a half. And, speaking of their second baby joy, Simon, 51, said: “The baby is due in a few weeks’ time, so quite close to the end of the football season.
“It’s been a massive joy to see Ethan having Talitha in the house, and in a few weeks’ time another brother or sister, so it’s been lovely. Obviously there’s an age gap but they’ve got a lovely bond even though Talitha’s only got about five or six words currently.
Gemma left behind her husband Simon and their son Ethan (Instagram)“The way her face lights up when he comes home from school. She can say ‘bye bye’ now and she loves watching him play his guitar. So it’s been a real source of joy.
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“Sometimes it sounds weird to say I’m blessed, because of what happened, but I am really fortunate having the life I do have, and be in regular work again.” But with Ethan now 14, Simon is also having to deal with the travails of raising a teenager. It is the reason he is backing Talking Futures, an online toolkit which helps parents talk to their 11 to 18-year-olds about their future education and career options.
Simon, who has reunited with Blue Peter colleague Konnie Huq for the campaign, said: “I fully understand the struggles in engaging teens in conversations around their futures. I think it’s important for parents to get into the habit of having career conversations regularly and it’s something I broach with my son fairly often. Time flies and it’s good to know what your kids are thinking early on.
“At the moment he wants to be a journalist but that might change by next week. We’re lucky as Ethan wants to have these conversations and they’re quite easy to have.” Simon, who hosted Blue Peter from 1999 until 2005, before presenting live Premier League football for Sky Sports from 2016 to 2018, last year opened up about the devastating blow of losing Gemma to cancer.
Simon Thomas with his wife Derrina and son Ethan (DAILY MIRROR)He said: “We went from Monday night with her being diagnosed with a blood cancer of some sort. For a couple of days, things were looking OK, the treatment was going well but then things just cartwheeled out of control.
“And by 5.45pm on that Friday in November 2017 at the age of 40, with an eight-year-old son and a husband, she’s gone. The first thing I did when I came out of that hospital was I just sank to my knees and shouted at God. I shouted, ‘Why? Why, why, why?
“Why’ve you left my boy without a mum, I don’t get it, I don’t get you God.’” Simon told how he even considered ending it all as he was so consumed by grief." He added: “I’m not cut out for being strong enough to navigate my boy through the next few years, and I just wanted to roll into the Thames. I wanted to let go of life for a minute.
“Thankfully, I got an image of Ethan and I thought, ‘I can’t, he’s just lost his mum.’” Simon revealed his Christian faith helped him get through the darkest of times after Gemma’s death.
He added: “It has helped me 100% and is the most important part of my life. When you go through challenging things in life, whether you have a faith or you don’t have a faith. I still get messages now from people who have gone through something really tough, whether it be loss or mental health and they’re always looking for hope.
“Hope that life will get better. Hope that they can find joy again in life. Difficulties come in different forms and it’s just part of life.”
Parents and educators can find out more and access Talking Futures free resources, such as the Earn Your Badge series, by visiting Talking Futures by clicking HERE
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