{"id":237530,"date":"2023-10-03T08:41:04","date_gmt":"2023-10-03T08:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/?p=237530"},"modified":"2023-10-03T08:41:04","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T08:41:04","slug":"gaby-roslin-watching-both-my-parents-die-from-cancer-was-heartbreaking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/tv-and-movies\/gaby-roslin-watching-both-my-parents-die-from-cancer-was-heartbreaking\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaby Roslin: \u2018Watching both my parents die from cancer was heartbreaking\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Talking to Gaby Roslin is like switching on the sunshine on a rainy day. For more than 30 years the presenter has been bringing her trademark smile and infectious energy to our TV screens, and now she\u2019s hoping to help us all find happiness.<\/p>\n

As she settles in to chat about her upbeat new handbook, Spread The Joy, due out next week, 59-year-old Gaby admits that while she\u2019s had to battle with her share of heartbreak, grief and \u201cdeep sadness\u201d, being \u201cunapologetically happy\u201d has also helped her through the darkest times in her life.<\/p>\n

So passing on her own life lessons felt like a good way of helping people who may not find positivity as easy to come by.<\/p>\n

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Full of practical tips, advice and exercises, from wearing a pop of colour to simply gazing at the sky, Gaby maintains that there are hundreds of simple ways of turning bad days into good ones.<\/p>\n

And while she admits she doesn\u2019t have first-hand experience of mental health struggles, she has been there to support friends who have.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do my best to help other people, but it is not something I\u2019ve had to cope with,\u201d she says. \u201cI do think people use the words anxiety and depression too readily, though, and I think we have to be very careful how we use those words.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be completely fake of me to say I\u2019d never felt those emotions, but I\u2019m incredibly lucky to be able to be positive about things, and that\u2019s helped me through.<\/p>\n

\u201cJournalists have asked me my whole career how I\u2019m so happy all the time and I used to tell them, \u2018Yeah that\u2019s me, I\u2019m so sorry.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Losing her mother, Jackie, to lung cancer in 1997 was a particularly difficult time for Gaby. Jackie was still only in her early sixties when she died.<\/p>\n

Gaby reveals, \u201cWe were told my mum had six months to live and she died six weeks later on Valentine\u2019s Day. Nobody can prepare you for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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To add to her trauma, her BBC announcer father, Clive, was being treated for bowel cancer at the same time. He was given the all-clear by doctors on the day his wife died.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter my mum died, it was really difficult and I felt deep sadness and grieved for her. I was really upset saying goodbye to my other close family members and friends too,\u201d says the presenter, who this year also lost her celebrity pals Paul O\u2019Grady and Dame Deborah James.<\/p>\n

But this is a woman who sees the good in everything and in typical style tells us that even loss can be turned into a positive. Gaby points out that she is lucky to be here still and says she chooses to appreciate life and enjoy every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always think about how wonderful it is that I had these great people like my friends and mum and my granny, who I was so close to,\u201d she says. \u201cI was interviewed about my new show Whatever You Want very shortly after mum died and Richard and Judy told me, \u2018It\u2019s amazing how you\u2019re so positive.\u2019 I told them, \u2018I\u2019m never saying sorry again for being happy.\u2019 I didn\u2019t realise I was going to say it. It was like a bolt.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people get angry if you\u2019re happy but that\u2019s about them, so you have to be generous of spirit and work that out. I\u2019m not knocking them for that at all,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

Gaby found fame in 1992 on The Big Breakfast and smiles as she speaks about her co-presenter Chris Evans, who recently revealed he had skin cancer. However, he was given the all-clear by doctors eight weeks after the diagnosis.<\/p>\n

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She reveals that people remain curious about whether she and Chris ever had a romantic encounter when they worked together on the Channel 4 show \u2013 something she has always insisted didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n

But she adds, \u201cI\u2019m not angry in the slightest. It makes me giggle, because Chris and I are still great friends and he texted me recently.\u201d<\/p>\n

She has also remained friends with Robbie Williams, who was 16 when they met on Saturday morning ITV kids\u2019 show Motormouth. The Angels singer, who she refers to as Rob, was delighted to write a foreword for her book.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him I was doing it and he gave me a quote and I said, \u2018This is so lovely.\u2019 He said, \u2018Use it, use it.\u2019 We were speaking the other day. Rob\u2019s a really good boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

When we suggest that working with the famous \u2013 and infamous \u2013 on TV and radio over three decades can\u2019t always have been a pleasure, Gaby reveals her solution for dealing with \u201ctoxic\u201d people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re able to, then extricate yourself,\u201d she says. \u201cWhat better way to live than to have good, positive people around you and actually see the people you want to see? I know it\u2019s not always possible, but take yourself out of a situation, even if it\u2019s just by going to the toilet.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also stopped drinking alcohol five years ago. \u201cI used to think I couldn\u2019t be me without a glass in my hand,\u201d she reveals. \u201cThen I decided I love life too much to have a hangover.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI did dry January, which merged into dry February, then dry March. I haven\u2019t touched a drop since. I have far more confidence since not drinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also refuses to let minor matters trouble her, \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be worrying about little things, like whether or not the trousers we bought make us look fat or thin.\u201d<\/p>\n

And she\u2019s been passionate about exercising for well over 20 years. She says, \u201cI choose to go to the gym and do weights and go walking because it\u2019s so important for my mental health. We\u2019ve got an ageing population and we\u2019ve all got to do what we can and keep moving and it\u2019s good for our bones.\u201d<\/p>\n

As someone who walks virtually everywhere, Gaby often meets people who are struggling in their lives, and reveals she\u2019s been a shoulder to cry on for others ever since she was a young girl.<\/p>\n

She says, \u201cIt\u2019s been difficult at times to hear people\u2019s stories because I\u2019ve bee told some really heartbreaking things. But talking and listening is vitally important.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor many people, though, life is unbelievably tough. You have to show your emotions \u2013 and feel them \u2013 but if you\u2019re struggling, please talk to people or one of the charities I\u2019ve listed in the back of my book.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember after the Queen died, a lady called Iris spoke to me down at one of the areas covered in floral tributes. She was really emotional and I was there to listen and comfort her.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI also had a conversation with a young girl who was crying on a bench in Regent\u2019s Park. It was really difficult but I knew that if my daughter had been in that position, I\u2019d have wanted someone to speak to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaby lights up as she begins talking about family life with husband David Osman and daughters Libbi-Jack, 22, from her first marriage to musician Colin Peel, and Amelie, 16, whose father is David.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no surprise to learn she encourages her girls to go to her with any worries they have. \u201cAmelie has just done her GCSEs and the night before she was getting her results, she went through a lot of emotions, but me and David kept telling her it doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she had to retake, then she could retake. She got her grades and she was pleased and it was because we all talked about it. We always have open conversations about things, which is really important.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for David, Gaby smiles as she speaks about her \u201cwonderful\u201d husband. She laughs, \u201cWe like different music, though, which is very funny in this house because I love musical theatre and pop but he likes reggae and punk. Recently I saw a punk musical being advertised and I realised there was finally something we could go to together.\u201d<\/p>\n

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So is life truly glorious every day for Gaby? Surely she sometimes wakes to those dark mornings when she dreads the day ahead? But, she says, she has a simple solution. Fake it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m not feeling quite myself I smile at the moment I feel myself waking,\u201d she explains. \u201cYou sometimes have to force a smile at the start but then you fix your brain and it goes into, \u2018Oh, I feel good about today.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredible how a smile can change my perspective on the day and I\u2019m prone to even looking in the mirror sometimes and smiling before I brush my teeth, saying, \u2018Yeah, I\u2019ve got this.\u2019 It\u2019s that simple.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spread The Joy by Gaby Roslin (HQ, HarperCollins, \u00a318,99) is out on 12 October in hardback.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n