Gary Barlow is still “angry” about the death of his daughter Poppy.
Gary Barlow is still ‘angry’ about the death of his daughter Poppy
The Take That singer, 53, was devastated when his fourth child was delivered stillborn at full term on 4 August, 2012, days before his band had to perform at the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics – and Gary has now admitted he feared the trauma would end his marriage to his 54-year-old wife Dawn.
He said on ‘The Imperfects’ podcast: “I haven’t really found peace with it yet.
“I don’t talk about this in great detail and I literally don’t because I’m still kind of figuring it out a little bit.
“My wife’s emotions were completely different to mine. I’ve been angry for a long time about that – I haven’t really found peace with it yet.”
He added about his fears Poppy’s death would lead to the collapse of his marriage: “We had a worrying statistic when it happened to us, something like 95 per cent of couples split up when something like that happens to them.
“I think it comes down to men deal with it differently than the women do. My wife does far better than I do – she’s a much stronger person than I am.
“She’s really been amazing throughout it.”
Gary and Dawn have son Daniel, 22, as well as daughters Emily, 19, and Daisy, 13, and the singer said about his kids’ reactions to the tragedy: “The youngest one wasn't affected at all by it, but the older two still talk about it a lot.
“It’s a highly complex thing that none of us should ever have to go through.”
He added about how he managed to draw strength from Poppy’s passing: “I guess it’s made me stronger, I think so. I think things like that have to, don’t they?
“There was definitely a point where I wondered if we’d ever be back to where we were before but I think we have got there.”
Gary wrote his song ‘Let Me Go’ as a tribute to Poppy, and said about using it to help cathartically dispel his grief: “For me, usually my way around most things in life is not talking about them – I write music. I’ve got lots of music that keeps her alive for me on a nightly basis.
“When I see audiences singing along, that’s the life for me – that’s what she brought and it’s here in front of me and it happens a few times a week on stage and that’s the way I keep her close to me.”
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