MARK Wright opened up about how his wife Michelle Keegan told him to embrace his dad after a family tragedy.
The Heart radio host married Brassic actress Michelle in 2015 and told how she rushed to his side after his beloved uncle Eddie died after a battle with Covid.
TV star Mark, 34said: “Covid tore my family apart and it’s not going to be the same again.”
Mark was reeling from six relatives getting the virus within days of each other when his beloved uncle Eddie died last month.
He opened up to The Sun about the emotional moment Michelle instructed her husband to be there for his dad.
"She left work straight away," Mark explained of how Michelle was filming the third series of Brassic in Manchester and dropped everything to travel down to be with him.
"She text me, ‘What is your dad doing right now? Go hug him’."
Mark added: "I’ve never really hugged my dad for years since I’ve been grown up. We don’t really do that."
The former Towie star said it was the first time in his life he had to take care of his dad after the emotional fallout of losing his brother.
“I always turn to him but this is the first time in my life I had to be there for my dad," he said through tears.
“I had just lost my uncle, the worst day of my life. I had to flip my attention to my dad because when he’s stressed, he bottles it up. It’s the first time in my life I told him to let it go.
“Then he cried and we hugged, it’s a weird moment. On one hand I’ve lost my uncle and I’m never going to see him again, I loved him so much. On the other hand, I had a moment with my dad that I’ve probably been waiting for all my life — but it will never heal the pain of losing Eddie.”
Devastated Mark described the 65-year-old as the heart of the Wright family — and he says he will never get over it.
He is utterly heartbroken at the tragic loss of Eddie — father to Mark’s cousin, Towie star Elliott Wright.
Mark said: “I am sat here one uncle less. He’s the heart of our family. We’re all heartbroken beyond belief. I’m trying to be there for many, many family members who are devastated.
“My uncle was 65, it’s a massive shock to us — we don’t know what we’re going to do without him.
“Eddie’s sons, my cousins Elliott and Edward, are like my brothers.
“It feels worse that it’s a new virus. If it was something else like cancer it would be just as hard.
“But Covid feels so alien and I’ve lost someone so close to something so new. I struggle with this because it didn’t have to happen. Why did this virus have to take him?”
Mark speaks harrowingly of how Covid rules meant he was unable to visit his grandmother Irene, dad Mark Snr or his uncle Eddie while they were in hospital.
He eventually used FaceTime to talk to his dad and communicated with his nan through a window from the car park.
Mark revealed he prayed day and night when his family were in hospital, crying as he told The Sun: “I could have lost them all.
“I’m struggling to cope with this. In December and January I was at a point with a grandma, grandpa, mum, dad and uncle — when I could have lost them all.
“Covid tore my family apart and it’s not going to be the same again.”
TIMELINE OF TURMOIL
EARLY DEC, 2020
MARK’S 85-year-old nan is released from hospital after having Covid but testing negative.
The family spent a heart-breaking month communicating with her through the hospital window after more than a month of positive tests.
DECEMBER 20
HIS dad tests positive for Covid.
Soon after Mark’s dad’s older brother Georgie is taken to hospital with the killer virus.
DECEMBER 22
MARK’S 87-year-old grandad is struck down with the virus.
LATE DECEMBER
THE star gets a call from cousin Elliott to say his dad Eddie — Mark’s uncle — has Covid too.
JANUARY 20, 2021
MARK has to self- isolate on his birthday after a Covid outbreak at his team, Crawley FC. Wife Michelle is OK to film Brassic in Manchester.
MARCH 2021
THE family lose Eddie Wright after he has spent eight weeks in a coma battling the virus.
Mark is also urging Sun readers not to be complacent and to take the virus more seriously as the UK comes out of lockdown. He said: “Don’t be like me, don’t lose a family member. Keep your distance and wash your hands — until we’re out of the woods.
“If you haven’t been affected directly just know that it is real. My family didn’t even mix and they all got it at the same time, that’s how strong the virus is.
“Let’s get out of this situation because it is absolutely horrendous.”
MARK was talking to raise awareness of Covid and the dangers that exist around infection.
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