Archive August 7, 2025

Kelsey Parker breaks silence on baby loss with heartbreaking admission

EXCLUSIVE: Podcaster and Tom Parker’s widow Kelsey Parker has devastatingly shared how she told her children about the death of her baby Phoenix and how they are navigating grief

Kelsey Parker has opened up about suffering the loss of her baby(Image: OK! Magazine / Chelsea White)

Kelsey Parker is “taking each day as it comes” as she opens up for the first time about the loss of her baby Phoenix. The podcast host and widow of The Wanted’s Tom Parker sadly announced her third child was born stillborn at 39 weeks in June.

She had looked forward to welcoming her first child with partner Will Lindsay, who she found love with two years after Tom’s tragic death from an inoperable brain tumor in 2022. After announcing she was pregnant in January, five months later, Kelsey broke the devastating news that the little boy who they had named Phoenix, was stillborn. A bereft Kelsey took time away from social media and from work.

Speaking out in her first interview since the tragedy,Kelsey said: “I didn’t think I’d be living a relived experience, first losing Tom and now losing Phoenix.

Tom and Kelsey Parker
Singer Tom died in 2022 aged 33 after a brain tumour diagnosis

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“But I think with any grief and loss, you have to take each day as it come and work through it.” About one in every 250 births results in a stillbirth, according to the NHS.

Kelsey is mum to children Aurelia, six, and Bodhi, four, with The Wanted singer, and now the family have now experienced death again with their younger sibling.

“For the kids, it just breaks my heart for them because obviously we wanted the happy ever after and to have Phoenix but that didn’t pan out for us,” Kelsey says.

The mum said when it came to breaking the sad news to Aurelia and Bodhi so soon after they’d lost their father, she used her first encounter with grief to guide her with the latest heartbreak. “I spoke about it like I did with Tom, I just told them the truth.

“I think that’s all you can do with your children, in anything you’re going through, be honest. Because I think people underestimate their children and what their children can cope with. Children have little ears and they listen to a lot of conversations.”

Kelsey Parker with her partner Will Lindsay and children Aurelia and Bodhi Parker
Kelsey Parker with her partner Will Lindsay and children Aurelia and Bodhi Parker(Image: OK! Magazine / Chelsea White)

While filming her documentary, Kelsey Parker: Life After Tom, the mum met a family who lost their dad to suicide. “The children said they felt so shut out because all the adults kept coming and having conversations in rooms and shutting the children out and I think they felt isolated. Whereas I don’t want my children to feel like that, they are very involved in the conversations.”

Kelsey revealed losing their dad Tom actually helped Aurelia and Bodhi grieve Phoenix. “I think for them it actually makes it easier because they’ve gone through loss, they understand what death is.

“We’re sort of almost like the Addams Family because we’ve gone though so much death and darkness. The children are very aware.

“Aurelia likes to tell people that her dad’s died and her brother’s died. She will openly say it, but it’s other people’s reactions. They can’t cope with how honest and open we are.

“But it’s a fact of life, we are all going to die that is one thing guaranteed. We’re going to be born and we’re going die.” Kelsey has received the love and support from her family during the devastating time, and been supported by Tom’s parents who she remains close with.

Kelsey has opened up about sharing the heartbreaking news with Aurelia and Bodhi
Kelsey has opened up about sharing the heartbreaking news with Aurelia and Bodhi(Image: OK! Magazine / Chelsea White)

“Noreen and Nige, Tom’s mum and dad, have literally been there for me every day since. We were absolutely devastated. I call Noreen all the time, we always talk.

“We’re going through grief again.” Noreen had shared her blessings when Kelsey became pregnant with Phoenix. “I knew she would [be ok with her having another child] because she wants me to be happy,” said Kelsey.

“She wants her grandchildren to be happy, that’s all we want after going through something so tragic. She’s just there for me and she’s a massive, massive support.

“We spoke to each other every day since losing Phoenix and she was just as devastated as as every family member because she wanted that happiness for me and the kids.”

Kelsey decided to announce Phoenix’s death with an emotional and touching poem, which was titled: “For Phoenix, Born Sleeping, Forever Loved.”

It read: “The world grew quiet as you arrived. So loved, so longed for, yet not alive. Our precious boy, our angel light. Born with wings, took silent flight.

“We named you Phoenix, brave and bright. A soul of love, of warmth and light. Though we never heard you cry, you’ll live in hearts that won’t ask why.”

Kelsey’s poem for her late son concluded: “No breath you drew, no eyes to see. Still, you mean everything to me. You’ll journey with us, softly near. In every sigh, in every tear.”

Sharing her decision to post the poem, Kelsey said she was feeling ‘raw’ about the loss but wanted to be honest about what had happened.

“I knew everyone was going to be so devastated for me because the messages I’ve had. [People say] ‘how can you go through this again? You’ve lost the love of your life, now you’re going through this’.”

Kelsey still finds grief in the public eye hard, but there are some aspects that add comfort. “People know on a public level what I’ve been through so if I had lost Phoenix and had to go and do the school run and people didn’t know, I think that would be really hard because people would be saying ‘where’s the baby’.”

 Kelsey Parker
Kelsey is spreading the importance of keeping photos(Image: Missive)

Kelsey has decided to slowly return to work as she navigates her grief. She has teamed up with Virgin Media O2 and Hubbub for a campaign aiming to get people to revisit memories trapped in old phones, so the device can be donated to someone who needs it.

“Work gets me through hard times,” Kelsey shared. “Some people don’t like work, I love work. I am trying to take it slowly, ease myself back in.”

She has been supported by her Mum’s the Word podcast co-host Georgia Jones during her break away. “Georgia has actually been a massive support and she’s messaging me each week and checking in and making sure I’m okay,” Kelsey shared.

She also threw herself and her kids into routine following Phoenix’s death, something she is finding harder now it is the school summer break.

Sharing the reason behind her tough decision, Kelsey confessed: “I think that was important for people to see me at the school and for the kids to see that you have to be strong and you have to be brave however tough life is.

“You have to be brave and show up and that’s what I try and do. Show up for my children so they can look at me and go, you know what, my mummy’s very strong. She will get us through anything.”

Yet, not everyday is straight forward in grief. “It’s the same when I lost Tom, you have really, really s**t days that you actually can’t get out of bed and you think, am I ever going to get through this? But I have two children that need me. You can literally be one second laughing, the next minute crying. Grief hits you different times.”

Kelsey Parker is supporting Virgin Media O2 and Hubbub’s Community Calling initiative to encourage people to donate unwanted smartphones to those who need them. Through Community Calling – an initiative set up to tackle digital exclusion – unused, working devices can be rehomed to someone in need. More information can be found at https://hubbub.org.uk/community-calling.

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Love Island star Yasmin suffers heartbreak just days after leaving villa

Yasmin, a Love Island star, and her ex-boyfriend Jamie found love and finished third on the ITV2 reality series, but she has since experienced heartache.

Love Island star Yasmin Pettet has been dealt with fresh heartbreak just days after finishing third with Jamie Rhodes (Image: ITV/Shutterstock)

Love Island’s Yasmin Pettet has been dealt with heartbreak just days after leaving the villa. The reality star, 24, made it to the final of the latest series of the ITV2 reality dating show, and finished in third place with now-boyfriend Jamie Rhodes but just days after the programme drew to a close, she has revealed that her cat Miaow Miaow passed away while she was filming.

On Wednesday, she wrote on a black background on her Instagram story: “As I’ve spoken about her on the show I’m sure a lot of you will know I have a cat called miaow miaow who’s been by my side for 11 years now. When I was filming Love Island I had a bad gut feeling something was off and when my mum and sister came into the villa I asked them and still felt like something was off.”

Revealing that her family chose not to tell of her of the tragedy at the time and she was informed by her sister once filming had finished, she added: “Rightfully they didn’t tell me because I was still in the villa but after the final I called my sister and she told me that miaow miaow had cancer and died whilst I was away filming Love Island.” It comes after Love Island fans fume as third place couple announced as Yas and Jamie.

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Yasmin and Jamie
Despite the heartbreak, Yasmin recently spoke of her positive experience in the villa after finishing third with boyfriend Jamie (Image: ITV/Shutterstock)

The commercial banking executive assured her fans that she was trying to keep up with her social media as much as possible but also explained to her near-350,000 followers that she needs time to deal with the ‘heartbreak’ she has had to endure. She added: “I’m trying to be as active as I can on socials, but am taking time for myself to process this heartbreak., RIP to my beautiful baby girl, you were so loved and will always be in my soul.”

Fans flooded social media with messages of sympathy for Yasmin’s feline friend after she was mentioned several times in the Love Island villa. One person shared that the news that her cat had passed away while she was staying at the villa was the most heartbreaking thing she could have ever imagined and that she was so excited to see her baby who isn’t there anymore.

One viewer, who was clearly shocked by the news, said: “I’m crying because she immediately asked her parents and sisters how Miaow Miaow was when they visited the villa and they had to lieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee,” while another said: “Nooo Yasmins cat Miaow died while she was talking about Not the icon passing away, a second fan wrote. While Yasmin was staying at the villa, her cat from the island of love perished.

Despite the depressing news, Yasmin’s first post after leaving the villa acknowledged her positive experience on the show, and she thanked some of her co-stars throughout her time with the competition. Without Jamie, Toni, and Shakira, I really wouldn’t have been able to do it, she wrote. “My love island journey was crazy, to say the least. I’m so appreciative and blessed, and I’m eager to see what the future holds. Before Cach and Toni claimed the £50, 000 prize, she and her significant other were announced as the third-place couple, who had finished ahead of Harry and Shakira.

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One user wrote on X/Twitter, “Not my winners third,” and another, “Harry sneaks into the top two over yas and jamie someone hand me a gun.” One disgruntled fan said, “I’m lowkey shocked yas and jamie are thirds.”

“Yas and Jamie 3rd place???? Can the UK accomplish anything? “I wasn’t expecting yas and jamie to be third, actually,” one said. Angel and Ty were named the fourth-place couple in the meantime. Ty said: “It’s definitely going in the right direction,” and he said he was looking forward to the outside world with her. The two are now “exclusive.”

MSF ‘overwhelmed’ in Ethiopia’s southwest following aid cuts

As aid cuts force other nutrition and disease prevention programs to close, according to Doctors Without Borders (known by its French acronym, MSF) the rise in infant hunger and malaria are overwhelming humanitarian facilities in southwest Ethiopia.

In addition to the increase in child admissions to MSF’s feeding facility in the Kule refugee camp in Ethiopia’s Gambella region, which MSF reported on Wednesday, many of the children were coming from nearby camps, an increase of 55 percent over the previous year.

According to MSF, funding cuts have resulted in the closure of nutrition services in four of the region’s seven refugee camps, which “place around 80, 000 children under the age of five at risk of life-threatening malnutrition.”

In two of its largest regions, Ethiopia, the second-largest country in Africa, has a population of 130 million people.

South Sudan, which borders Southwestern Gambella, is also in the grip of dramatic increases in violence and funding cuts for international programs that form the nation’s healthcare backbone.

Nearly 400,000 refugees are currently sheltered in seven camps, many of whom are South Sudanese, in the region.

In comparison to 2024, the Kule camp’s patient visits have increased by almost 60%.

The patient load has been increasing, and MSF is concerned that this number will likely continue to rise in the coming months, according to Armand Dirks, project coordinator for Gambella.

Nyauahial Puoch’s daughter, who was 17 months old, was being treated for malnutrition by traveling about eight kilometers (five miles) from another refugee camp.

There has been a significant decline since last year. Some of the items we used to purchase are no longer provided, according to the NGO.

Although they only get food once per month, Puoch claimed, “it always runs out before the month ends.”

MSF predicts a steep increase in the rainy season from May to October, while funding cuts have also had an impact on disease prevention, particularly malaria programs.

Nearly 24, 000 malaria patients came from nearby refugee camps, according to the NGO, who reported an 125-percent increase in the number of cases in July compared to the same month last year.

Call for end to forced starvation, targeted killing of journalists in Gaza

To governments, international organizations, media outlets, and civil society:

We demand that Israel stop forcing journalists to starve and be targeted in Gaza, as the undersigned press freedom organizations, media organizations, journalists’ unions, and advocates of truth and transparency.

Gazan journalists are starving to death.

Not in a metaphorical sense. not gradually. but purposefully and constantly, while the world watches.

One in three people in Gaza currently spends days without food. Journalists are among the famined who are the final independent voices still covering Gaza. These individuals demonstrate the bravery required to keep the world informed about the magnitude of Israel’s conflict in Gaza. They are currently forced to die from hunger.

This is not an incident. This tactic is used.

Israel uses deliberate means to silence the truth by starving journalists, not by accident.

Over 230 journalists and media personnel have died in Gaza since October 2023. People who remain are now forced to choose between an air strike or starvation, and their families are constantly targeted, intimidated, and denied basic needs. Their situation is dire and getting worse every day. Their lives are in serious danger without the international community’s immediate response, and they may not be able to continue reporting.

It is our duty to raise our voices and mobilize all available resources to support our colleagues in this noble profession because both the world and the journalistic community are under enormous pressure.

The death of these journalists will be a moral catastrophe as well as the end of the truth in Gaza if the international community doesn’t take action. Our inaction will be remembered as a betrayal of the values that every journalist strives to uphold in history as well as a massive failure to protect our fellow journalists.

The undersigned asks that we:

Emergency food and access: All journalists in Gaza must be given urgent food, clean water, and medical supplies via designated humanitarian corridors.

End the Israeli press’s entry into Gaza and allow international journalists to run their own businesses.

Accountability: In accordance with international law, investigate and prosecute those responsible for the starvation and murder of journalists.

Permanent Support and Protection: Adopt long-term protection plans for journalists reporting in conflict-torn regions, with particular assistance for those who are under siege.

We won’t allow the death of the truth to pass. We won’t let our coworkers go hungry.

Signed:

Al Jazeera Media Network

UK-based Arab Organization for Human Rights

Ethical Journalism Network founder, Aidan White

Center for Defending Journalists’ Freedom of Expression (CDFJ)

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

Human Rights Monitor for Euro-Med

Federation of African Journalists

Geneva Global Media Center (GGMC)

International Press Institute (IPI) research

International Media Support (IMS)

Censorship Index

The James Foley Foundation

The Rory Peck Trust’s Executive Director is John Williams.

National Press Club (NPC) and NPC Media Freedom Center

National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ)

Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

We urge immediate response. Now.

US Open to offer ‘largest purse in tennis history’

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The US Open men’s and women’s singles winners will get $5m (£3.7m) each as part of a total pot of $90m (£67.4m) in prize money, which the tournament says is “the largest purse in tennis history”.

The amount for the eventual singles champions is a 39% increase on 2024 when it was $3.6m (£2.8m), while the total purse has gone up 20% from the $75m (£57.8m) awarded last year.

In comparison, the total prize money at Wimbledon this year was £53.5m, with the men’s and women’s singles winners getting £3m apiece.

Earlier this year, the top 20 men’s and women’s players sent a letter to the four Grand Slams asking for a greater share of the revenue generated by the major tournaments.

“The US Open has made a deliberate and concerted effort to ensure double-digit percentage increases from 2024 in all rounds of all events for all players, while at the same time significantly increasing the percentage of prize money for athletes playing deep into the singles draws,” said a statement from the tournament organisers.

The pot of money on offer in men’s and women’s doubles at the US Open this year will be $4.78m (£3.6m) – an increase of 23% from 2024.

The tournament said that “for the first time ever” the winners of the men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles would get $1m (£749,000) in prize money per team.

The US Open will also be providing $5m (£3.7m) in support for costs, including travel and expenses, for players in the main draw, while the prize money for the men’s and women’s qualifying tournaments will rise by 10% to $8m (£6m).

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Burnley sign midfielder Ugochukwu from Chelsea

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Lesley Ugochukwu from Chelsea has been signed for more than £20 million, according to Burnley.

At Turf Moor, the 21-year-old has agreed to a five-year contract.

According to BBC Sport, the fee is comparable to Chelsea’s $3.2 million purchase of Ugochukwu from Rennes in 2023.

Ugochukwu praised the signing as “a great feeling.”

I was interested in learning more about the project as soon as I learned about the club’s interest in signing me. The club and Maxime Esteve, both of whom I spoke to, both had such a strong passion for the direction the club is taking.

With the ambition the club is displaying, it seems like the best course of action for me at this point in my career.

As Chelsea prepares to sell several players in their so-called “bomb squad,” which includes England internationals Raheem Sterling and Ben Chilwell, they are training separately from Enzo Maresca’s first team. Ugochukwu was deemed surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge.

Before joining Southampton on a season-long loan for 2024-25, Ugochukwu made 15 appearances in all competitions during his first two years at Chelsea.

Armando Broja, a 23-year-old Chelsea forward, is another player in talks with Burnley.

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