Gloria tragically lost her daughter, Caron Keating, to breast cancer in 2004 (Image: Daily Mirror)
Gloria Hunniford has opened up about the shifting family dynamics she has faced following the devastating loss of her daughter.
During an episode of Loose Women: The Podcast, Gloria and fellow host Judi Love responded to a listener’s query. The listener wanted advice on how to tell their mother-in-law that she was being “too overbearing” with their baby.
Judi suggested the listener should discuss the issue with their partner and ask them to address it with their mother, but Gloria offered a different perspective, hinting that the mother might not be receptive.
Gloria shared that she has four grandchildren from her side, while her late husband, Stephen, had “many on his side.” Together, they had ten grandchildren, providing her with “quite a lot of experience.”
She recalled that when her daughter, Caron, had children, Gloria felt, “rightly or wrongly” that she almost had an “automatic right” to visit whenever she wished.
Gloria revealed: “And I used to, for example, if Caron was working, I could call in, see the grandchildren, read them a story, put them to bed, and she wouldn’t even know that I’d been there, but that’s because we had a very close relationship. She loved it when I went to see the grandchildren.”
Reflecting on family dynamics after a loss, Gloria explained the significant shift that took place following the death of her daughter: “Now, when Caron sadly passed, now we’re into, in this case, not a mother-in-law but a step-mother, and you know, with grandchildren, the parameter changes because no longer did I have the right just to say, ‘Oh, by the way, I’m picking the children up Wednesday from school. I’ll take them for tea, and then I’ll drop them back by six o’clock’.”
She added that you have to measure the territory “very carefully”, highlighting that this is particularly true with the mother-in-law, as her son has also had the baby.
Gloria has faced her fair share of heartbreak; Caron, a former Blue Peter presenter, died from breast cancer in 2004.
The renowned television host has also endured the loss of her first husband, Don Keating, who was the father of her children and passed away in 1997, and more recently, the death of her husband, Stephen Way, in August last year at the age of 85.
In a previous heartfelt tribute to Stephen, Gloria stated: “Stephen was a gentleman and a giant of a man, who will leave the most enormous void not only in my life, but our entire family.
“He was an incredibly kind, generous, and caring man, with a delightfully quirky sense of humour, which remained till the end.
“We had a tremendously happy 25-year marriage and did so many beautiful and exciting things together that I will always cherish.”
