Ex-Communards star Coles: I am looking forward after loss of partner

Rev Richard Coles says he is “facing forward” while grieving his partner.

The broadcaster’s civil partner, the Rev David Coles, died after suffering from alcoholism.

The ex-Communards star told BBC Breakfast that his experience of grief has been “like being gripped by sudden madness that comes upon you”.

And he said: “One of the issues is that people want to master grief, but you don’t master grief.

“Grief masters you. It’s one of those things that you just have to let happen.”

He said, “David was wonderful” and “made me, much to my surprise, extremely happy”.

“David was also a damaged person, he had an addiction, problems with alcohol and, in the end, that overwhelmed him and that was the cause of his death.”

But he said: “He made my life immeasurably richer than it would have been otherwise.

“What I’ve been going through in this past year has been terrible, but I stand up and I face forward. And I give thanks for everything that he gave to me.”