Ben Fordham breaks down over family tragedy
Ben Fordham had a hearty cry on 2GB on Thursday, while announcing the death of his father-in-law, Ross Spears.
“I wanted to share with you some personal news, and that is that my wife Jodie’s dad, Ross, passed away on Tuesday night,” the radio star revealed.
“Ross has been battling cancer for a number of years, it’s been really bad for a few months, and in the last few weeks he’s been in palliative care and he’s been looked after tremendously.
“He’s had the opportunity to say his goodbyes, we’ve all been in there to say goodbyes, including all of the grandchildren.”
Fordham became even more emotional when recalling his wife, Channel 7 newsreader Jodie Speers, returning home on Tuesday afternoon after visiting her father.
“It was clear from the tears streaming down her face that he didn’t have long to go,” Fordham said.
“My children were amazing … my daughter, Pearl, ran up to Jodie and gave her a massive hug. My little girl, Goldie, who’s only a baby, she knew what was going on, she started saying ‘papa’ which is what they call him.”
Fordham described Ross as a “great bloke”, revealing his father-in-law was a structural engineer who worked on the infamous cauldron that malfunctioned at the Sydney Olympics.
“Ross always assured me that was not his part of the team, that was the mechanical part of the team and he reckons he knew all along that it was going to be a long shot for that thing to work,” Fordham said.
The 2GB host went on to say: “Ross, we love you mate, and thank you very much for being a great father in law to me.”
The sad news of Ross Speers’ death follows the death of Fordham's dad, John Fordham, in 2019.
John died after a lengthy battle with throat cancer.
Speaking to Sky News last October, Fordham admitted he had learnt a lot from his father.
“The big lesson that I got out of dad, as far as his last few years, we were sitting down having lunch and he’d occasionally have these conversations where he’d say, ‘you don’t want to leave anything unsaid,’” Fordham said.
“He was always very open about how much he loved us, and how much respect he had for all of us.
“I said one day, ‘if you love us all that much, why don’t you fly us all to Hawaii for a holiday?’ “And he did. He flew the entire family.
“I look back on things like that and go, you know what, he didn’t die wondering. He took all those opportunities. He didn’t miss out on anything.”
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