I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! star Reverend Richard Coles devastated fans who learned his husband tragically died at the age of just 43.
The 62-year-old vicar lost partner David Oldham, who was also a clergyman, in 2019 to liver disease caused by an alcohol addiction he had battled with since his teenage years. The pair met when former A&E nurse David visited Richard to seek his advice on joining the chair.
They went on to marry in a civil partnership in 2010, with David taking on Richard's surname. But tragically David died nine years later. Though it wasn't until recently that Richard revealed his cause of death.
He said: “I often think if someone dies of drink, as people used to say, that people filed them under a sort of tragic, squalid death." Explaining why he wanted to keep David's alcoholism quiet, he continued: "David was so much more than that. I wanted to get a sense of why David was so important to those who loved him before we got to a discussion of what killed him.”
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Supplied)'I did everything to try and help David'
Speaking to the Radio Times, Richard shared: "My husband David died of alcoholic liver disease just before Christmas 2019. He was 43, a clergyman, and a former A&E charge nurse.
"Not an obvious victim, you might think, of alcoholism, but he had been drinking excessively since his teenage years, as a palliative – alcohol is the most readily available anaesthetic in the world – and as a recreation."
In his 2021 memoir The Madness of Grief: A Memoir of Love and Loss, Richard described how tough it was "to see somebody you love destroy himself". He said: "It's like someone is drowning and you throw them a lifebelt, but they are just not taking the lifebelt. And I did try everything I could think of to help him stop drinking, and in fairness to him he did try too, but it was too much for him."
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Tim Merry/Staff Photographer)Image:
Getty Images)New love with famous actor
But in 2023, Richard confirmed the happy news he had found love again - with famous actor Richard Cant. Known better as Dickie, the 60-year-old has appeared in War Horse, as well as episodes of Doctor Who, It's a Sin and Midsomer Murders.
The new couple met on a dating app two years ago. Confirming his new romance, Richard told ITV's Lorraine: "Best invention of civilisation. It was called Elite Singles which was a bit embarrassing because I wasn’t elite… The third person I met is the person I’m with now."
He previously said: "I wanted to go on a website where I would meet someone who was not looking for a sugar daddy, who was my age, who lived in my sort of world, who I could share my life with.’
Richard and Dickie's first date was at the Royal Horticultural Society. Opening up about his new love to campmate Maura Higgins, Richard revealed how he "didn't see it coming". But aren't those the moments you find true love...
*I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! continues tonight from 9pm on ITV1
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