Konnie Huq

To watch this video you must register first

If you've registered already click the link in your confirmation email.

Register now Register now

Lots of people will give you a wide berth because they don’t know how to act, which isn’t helpful.  

Born in Hammersmith in 1975 to parents who emigrated from Bangladesh in the 1980s, Konnie Huq has become a household name in the UK thanks to presenting jobs on shows like Blue Peter and The Xtra Factor. In recent years, she’s released a handful of children’s books and has collaborated with her husband, Charlie Brooker, on his award-winning series, Black Mirror.

Konnie lost her father in 2014, six years after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. His death triggered her mother’s early-onset dementia, which led to her own death just a few years later. Here, she discusses the impact that the loss of her parents has had on her, from the significance of receiving flowers as a sympathy gift, to understanding how best to approach the topic of death with the recently bereaved.

Once you lose a parent, or both parents in my case, people will tip-toe around you and everyone else starts to have a sense-of-humour bypass because they’re worried about you, but humour is a really good coping mechanism and you don’t want to be mourning the whole time.