Deidre Sanders has revealed she spent her birthday alone for the first time in 55 years this year after her husband, Rick, passed away last winter.
The This Morning Agony Aunt, 78, celebrated her birthday on 9 June, but has now shared that is far from the happy occasion it previously had been.
Deidre opened up about grief on Tuesday's This Morning when a caller asked for advice on coping with the death of her partner.
Sharing her own grief, Deidre said: "I really sympathise Leanne. You probably know my husband died at the end of last year so I had to face my first birthday by myself this summer.
"I sort of caught myself by surprise really. I did have some friends coming round but it was the first year in 55 years I'd had to open my presents by myself and I was completely blasted by it. I couldn't cope at all.
"So my advice would be – reach out. I know you may think 'I just want to look after my feelings by myself' but I don't think that's the way."
Earlier this year, Deirdre shared the sad news of her husband's death, revealing that he had passed away just a few days after she was told she had made the 2023 New Year Honours list.
Appearing on This Morning to discuss her MBE news back in January, Deirdre said: "A special thing for me was, a lot of you know my husband died just before Christmas on December 16th.
"But this call came through about a week before he died so that was really special for me. I could share it with him and say what had happened.
"I was with Rick for 55 years, so that was really great. He was always a great tease so he had to get in a few digs first."
It's been a difficult year for the agony aunt who revealed in September 2022 that she had been diagnosed with "high grade" breast cancer.
Sharing the scary news last year, Deidre revealed she has "a teeny, tiny carcinoma" – a cluster of malignant cells in a duct – in her right breast, and that it has been labelled as "high grade".
Following her diagnosis it came to light that Deidre had been "among a cohort of several thousand women who, by error, did not get invited for a mammogram when they turned 70".
While she was offered the service a couple of years later, the well-known agony aunt turned it down, dubbing herself as "too old" to need it.
And after receiving her diagnosis Deidre began calling on women to go to their mammogram appointments and for women over 70 to use their right to request a screening every three years.
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