Chris Evans opened up about the death of his mother as he made an emotional return to Radio 2 on Friday morning.
On Friday morning, he was back in the studio telling listeners: “It’s not the loss that gets to you, it’s the love… So much love for a lady you’ve never met.”
But he said of his return: “We are back as mum would have insisted we should be.”
Evans’ 92-year-old mother Minnie died on Thursday, just hours before he was due on air for his breakfast show .
Evans also took the time to open up about the emotional moment he found out his mother had left something behind for him and his siblings.
“My sister phones me up and she says you’ll never guess what I’ve just found,” he told listeners. “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 revealed that he had returned home from his late mother’s home to watch the Arsenal game when he got the call from his sister.
“Mum finally was at peace which was lovely and we all went round to pay our final final respects,” he said.
“We raised a glass in the garden of prosecco, don’t tell my mum if you meet her again in the future!”
He continued: “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.”
Evans appeared to choke up as he repeated: “She left us a letter. I’ll leave it there.”
Listeners rushed to social media to praise Evans for opening up so “beautifully” on his sad loss, and sharing his stories.
BBC Radio 2 dedicated their program to Chris Evans and his family tweeting ‘Today’s show is entitled: “So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling because life’s a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.”