Chris Evans choked back tears as he paid tribute to her on his Radio 2 breakfast show, revealing his late mother left him a letter for him to find after her death.
The DJ returned to the programme on Friday (4 May), a day after it was announced his mum, Minnie Beardsall, had died at the age of 92.
Chris became emotional has he told listeners of how his sister had discovered a letter their mum had written to them, that was found among her things.
“My sister phones me up and she says you’ll never guess what I’ve just found,” he said. “She’s left us a letter.
“She left it with her birth certificate because she knew we would have to go to her birth certificate to register her death.”
He continued: “Mum finally was at peace which was lovely and we all went round to pay our final final respects.
“We raised a glass of prosecco in the garden, don’t tell my mum if you meet her again in the future! It was brilliant, she’d been ill for so long so we were able to sort lots and lots out.
“She brought us together in the last couple of weeks like we’d never been together for years. It was just a lovely, lovely, lovely time for a wonderful woman.”
His voiced cracked as he added: “She left us a letter. I’ll leave it there.”
As he was flooded with messages of support from listeners throughout the show, Chris was truly touched by the number of people who reached out.
“It’s not the loss that gets you, it’s the love following the loss that gets you,” he said. “So much love for a lady you never met.”
He continued: “So it seems actually some of you did know her, you had met her.
“Talking about my mum if you’d just tuned in, or been on another planet, who passed away just before we came on air yesterday. I had to go home to be with my family, I wanted to go home, of course I did.”
With Chris missing Thursday’s show, it up up to his colleagues to announce the sad news to his listeners, with sports presenter Vassos Alexander reading out a letter Chris had left.
“The team here were just unbelievable as usual. I didn’t expect anything less,” Chris said. “They were just marvellous, and what about that man Vassos Alexander? What a guy. What a confirmation of our best friendship. Not that it needed one, but there’s the rubber stamp for you.
“Anyway we’re back, as mum would have insisted we should be,” he went on.
“I’m sounding quite chipper today but I’m just so happy my Mum’s at peace.
“My mum was only supposed to last a month or two, but five months after this, seven months in all, she was still there. All the carers, all the district nurses, have just been absolutely fantastic. But no more fantastic than you guys. You’re all gorgeous.”