Kelsey Parker and Holly Hagan detail the hardest parts of parenting through grief after both suffering tragic losses

Kelsey Parker and Holly Hagan have detail the hardest parts of parenting through grief on Thursday after both suffering tragic losses.

Kelsey's world first broke down when her The Wanted singer husband Tom Parker died aged 33 to an inoperable brain tumour on March 30, 2022. The couple shared two children together, Aurelia, six, and Bodhi, four. 

After finding love again with partner Will Lindsay, the couple tragically suffered a stillbirth in June 2025, losing their son, Phoenix, at 39 weeks. 

Meanwhile Holly's 19-year-old sister Darci tragically died from an accidental drug overdose in October 2025 after partying with friends in Manchester. 

The former Geordie Shore star, 33, is currently expecting her second child, a baby girl, with husband Jacob Blyth. The pair are already proud parents to son Alpha-Jax, three.

Now in a new episode of CBeebies Parenting Helpline podcast, Holly discussed how she is going to try and navigate speaking with her daughter when she's older about her sister, Darcy.

She said: 'I'm pregnant now, and I'm kind of like, how will I speak to my daughter about her aunty that she's never met.

'Obviously my son got to meet his aunty, she was there a lot when he was born and kind of up until you know, he's nearly three. 

'But he's not going to remember her and I'm pregnant now, and I'm kind of like, how will I speak to my daughter about her aunty that she's never met. How do I kind of incorporate that, it's like having the conversations and making them aware of this person and this amazing family member.'

Kelsey reassured Holly replying: 'You'll talk to her the same because where his [Holly's son Alpha-Jax] memory won't be there but you don't know what they'll remember. 

'You'll speak to them both exactly the same of your sister and you'll keep the memory alive, because for her.'

Holly's teenage sister Darcy died just 48 hours after taking crystal MDMA, during a night out at Manchester's Warehouse Project nightclub. 

At the nightclub, Darcy mixed the drug into her drink and within hours she suffered two cardiac arrests, leaving her fighting for her life in hospital.

Despite desperate prayers from the family, including Darci's parents, Holly's mother Vicky and stepfather John, they knew the moment they saw her, with doctors having taped her eyes shut, that there was no hope of recovery.

While speaking to Kelsey, Holly revealed she left nurses worried for her after she didn't 'outwardly breakdown' at the hospital due to taking on the role of holding the family together.

The TV personality said: 'Watching the way I grieved, my mum grieved, my stepdad grieved, we were polar opposites in all different stages. 

'For me, just as somebody who's interested in like psychology anyway, I found that so interesting to watch how my mum was screaming the hospital down in the same way that you would see on a TV show. My stepdad was quiet in the way that you see a man usually retreat. 

'And then there's me, who's doing all the organising and planning, who actually looks like she's not affected.'

'I actually had to sit in front of the nurses, we were talking about donating her heart and I sat with them I went, "I hope you don't think that I don't care, I hope that you all don't think that I don't care. Like, I am really upset, I'm just, I'm the one that needs to hold it together because that needs to be my role in this".

'They were like, "No, no, no, we see this all the time, and everyone's actually said they're really worried about you because you're not, you're not actually outwardly breaking down"'. 

Elsewhere Kelsey explained how she felt judged by openly sharing her experience with the public following the death of her husband of 13 years. 

'I feel like I was very judged', she said. 

'I think for me, it has been such a massive part of my journey because I've now gone through grief twice and had to be a parent and obviously when I lost Tom, I was grieving my husband that I was with for 13 years.

'I lost Tom and still had to be a parent and grieve and look after these two humans that had just lost their dad, and it was just so tough.'

Kelsey said she had 'no other choice' than to get out of bed after Tom's death and despite being judged online she had to remain strong. 

She explained: 'Tom died, the next day, the kids, I took them to preschool. We got out of bed and we went to preschool, and literally the teachers they were crying, they were all looking at me, they couldn't believe that I was there. 

'But I said, "Their life needs to continue without their dad" and it's absolutely devastating and heartbreaking for them, but their life has to continue.'

Kelsey also opened up about losing her baby Phoenix and how her two young children were left 'angry' by the stillbirth.    

'When I lost Phoenix obviously my children were so excited this was going be our happy ending and we were going to have a baby and then when they lost their brother, Aurelia was so angry', she said.

'She was so angry with the world, she was angry with everyone. She was angry with the circumstances and she was just so upset and she would say to me every night, and it is always bath time with Aurelia and Bodhi when they actually tell me their feelings, and she would just kept saying like, "I just miss Phoenix so much. I just miss Phoenix so much".

'But I think for her she obviously missed, she didn't know her brother, so she missed what she could have had.'

Kelsey went on to describe the difference in grief she experienced when she lost Tom and Phoenix as she had no choice but to go back to work in 2022. 

'How I grieved Tom was different, I think what people didn't understand as well is, I had to go to work. There was no money, we'd spent so much money on treatment that it was like, these kids need to be fed, they need a roof over their heads.

'With Phoenix, I did take some time. I actually thought, 'You need time, Kelsey.'

'I'd had five years of just keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going, and then when I lost Phoenix, it's like 'You need to actually rest.'

CBeebies Parenting Helpline is available on BBC Sounds and all other platforms. 

If you have been affected by anything in this article, please contact The Lullaby Trust on 0808 8026868.