The wife of the late Des O’Connor has revealed the showbiz legend had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease three years prior to his death.
In her first interview since Des’ death, his wife of 13 years Jodie Brooke Wilson said the veteran entertainer had chosen to keep his illness private from everyone apart from immediate family.
“Des dealt with it very privately,” she told the Daily Mail. “He didn’t want people to feel sorry for him and for it to be what they first thought about when they saw him.”
Jodie also claimed that while Des was formally diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2017, he’d thought he had the condition “for a while” prior to that.
She said: “He remembers doing The Wizard Of Oz at the London Palladium [in 2012] when he was playing the wizard.
“In one of the scenes he had to be put in a hot-air balloon and go up into the gods. He had to stay there for a little bit. He remembers sitting in the hot-air balloon and looking down at his hands and seeing a tremor. He remembers thinking it strange, but never thinking it was Parkinson’s-related.”
Des died in November 2020 at the age of 88, following a fall at his family home in Buckinghamshire.
Jodie recalled that even on the day of his accident, he still had everyone laughing, revealing: “The day he fell, I called the paramedics, who came so quickly and lifted Des up. I think Des had his arm around one of them and said to him, ‘Do you want to dance?’ Everybody laughed.
“That’s Des. He was my best friend. He was my soulmate. He was the kindest, funniest person. I feel very blessed he was in my life for 30 years.”
Des was known for hosting an array of shows including Today With Des And Mel, Des O’Connor Tonight, Countdown and Take Your Pick.
Tributes flooded in for him following his death, with broadcaster Piers Morgan remembering him as “one of the nicest people in showbiz”.