KELSEY Parker has admitted her children have had to learn about grief at too young an age.
The actress is the widow of The Wanted singer, Tom Parker, who died from a brain tumor in 2022 and the couple shared two children, Aurelia, six, and Bodhi, four.
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But in a tragic turn of events, Kelsey’s third child Phoenix Parker-Lindsay, was stillborn in June. The baby boy was her first child with partner, Will Lindsay, whom she started dating last September.
Now Kelsey has opened up about the trauma her young family has endured in recent years and how she has managed it with her two children.
“Well I do think I’m a little bit of a pro now when it comes to grief. I just felt what was natural and I think your children lead you as well into where they want to go with the conversation around death,” Kelsey told Daily Mail in an interview.
“So my daughter wants to talk about it all the time and Bodhi is more quiet, so I then take the lead and when they want to have a conversation, we talk about it, but I’m very open and I’m very honest. “
Kelsey added: “I don’t use words like anyone’s gone to sleep, you know, they are dead and they’re not coming back. So I just try my best.”
The mum-of-three explained how important it was to keep the children’s routine after she lost Phoenix.
“They went straight back to school because I think routine is so good for your children in loss, because the adults are grieving and they’re hearing a lot of words and a lot of talking,” Kelsey explained.
“And I think for them, normality and being in school is really good for them. And routine, I think well, not maybe school such, but routine. Like living their routine was good for them.”
Kelsey added: “They needed to see me be there, I was doing the school pickup because they needed to know that I was okay and that I’m not going anywhere.
“So I think that’s really important, especially after since they obviously lost Tom as well.”
She continued: “They are so aware of death and loss, so I think it’s more the other children in the class that haven’t gone through it and my children are talking about death, but it’s making and going to make my children the strongest of adults.”
Back in June, Kelsey, 34, issued a heartbreaking update after losing her baby at nine months.
Earlier this week, Kelsey shared a heartbreaking letter to her “angel” baby as she continued to deal with the “ache” of her loss.
One part of the letter read:
“For now, I’m learning to live with the ache, to breathe through the waves, and to find little pockets of peace in the middle of the storm.
“And I know that even though I can’t hold you in my arms, I carry you in my heart, always.”
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