AN emotional Reverend Richard Coles opened up about the loss of his late husband.
The I’m A Celebrity star cried “I miss him” after a heart to heart with his campmate Oti Mabuse.
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The pair enjoyed a deep chat around the camp fire, which started with Oti sharing her story about prematurely giving birth to her baby daughter.
Explaining that her baby – whose name she has kept secret – was placed in an incubator after birth.
As she couldn’t hold her she used her voice to connect with her, Oti explained: “For two months, every single day we’d sing church music. They find comfort in your voice.”
Richard then shared his own story about a baby born early.
“I remember going once to baptise a little boy, a premature boy, he was born very premature, he was only just alive”, said Richard, who got choked up as he fought back tears.
After being comforted by Oti who got up to give him a hug, Richard continued: “I just remember he was this tiny little pulse of life, and David [his then partner] got a pipette of water and we blessed it.
“We baptised him and he survived and now he’s a healthy young footballer, which is great!
“But I just felt so… it was such a precious thing.”
Oti agreed adding: “They are, my daughter was really, really tiny when she was born. It’s hell. It’s hell to be in the hospital, to hear those sounds, to not see your baby’s eyes for a week, it’s hell to constantly look for advice from the doctors.”
Fighting back tears Oti said the worst thing for her was that “every night, you need to leave them, you need to leave your baby in someone else’s hands.”
Saying that she can’t wait for Richard to meet her, Oti asked: “Maybe you can say a prayer over her, I would really love that.”
Richard admitted: “I’ve already said a prayer for her actually.”
With tears in her eyes, Oti thanked Richard and gave him a big hug.
Richard went on to open up about the loss of his former partner, David.
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He confessed to Oti: “I miss him… He’s just left a massive hole in my life and I’m living my life around that loss.”
Richard and his late partner Rev David Coles, a Church of England vicar, had been together for 12 years and were in a a civil partnership.
In 2019, his husband sadly passed away.
There was limited detail about his death until two years later when the I’m A Celebrity star revealed David had died from alcoholism.
In an extract from his book The Madness Of Grief: A Memoir Of Love And Loss, Richard, said: “It was really, really tough to see somebody you love destroy himself.
“It is 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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