Tom Parker's Widow Says Daughter Thinks Her Dad's 'on Tour,' Doesn't 'Understand He's Not Coming Back'
Tom Parker Instagram Tom Parker and wife Kelsey with their children in 2021
More than two months after the death of Tom Parker, The Wanted singer's wife Kelsey is adjusting to a new normal.
Kelsey opened up about life as a widow in a new interview on Tuesday and said she and daughter Aurelia Rose, 2½, have talked about the late star every day since his March 30 death at age 33.
"I've been really honest, but she does still talk about him every day and she doesn't quite understand that he's not coming back," Kelsey said on the British talk show Lorraine. "So I have to be really blunt to say he's not coming, that's it. He's dead and he's not coming back."
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Kelsey and Parker married in 2018, and also shared son Bodhi Thomas, 3. While Bodhi is still too young to grasp the situation, Kelsey said it's been tough for Aurelia, who still believes her father is on tour with his bandmates.
"She's a bit like, 'Well, you've been on tour, so is he going to come back from this?' She's just really confused by it," she explained. "She does ask me every day about him. We have little things around the house of Tom's, so she'll see his wallet and be like, 'Oh, that's Daddy's wallet!' And I'm like, 'Yeah, that's Daddy's wallet.'"
Parker was diagnosed with stage four glioblastoma in the summer of 2020 and shared the news publicly that October. As the musician sought treatment, he gave fans an intimate look at his life with the documentary Tom Parker: Inside My Head and in the memoir Hope: My Inspirational Life, which was released posthumously and is currently a best-seller in the United Kingdom.
The uplifting book title is a reflection on Parker's character, Kelsey said, noting that despite his diagnosis, their house remained a place of optimism and light.
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"Our house was never sad. It was a happy place to be in, so we wanted to write a book and share that with people. That you can be in a really dark place, but take some light from it," she said.
"[The kids] wake up happy… so I can't be sad. And he wouldn't want us to be sad and mourning," continued Kelsey. "Don't get me wrong, I get my bad days, of course I do. At night it is lonely. But this is my life, I have to get on with it."
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Since losing her husband, Kelsey told Lorraine the hardest part has simply been missing him.
"He was my actual best friend. I just loved him so much," she said. "I think it's that I don't get to text him when things happen and I don't get to call him. I think that's what I find really, really hard. I really miss him."
Parker announced the book just days before his death, and said on Instagram that it was "not about dying" but "about living."
RELATED: The Wanted Lift Late Member Tom Parker's Casket at Emotional Funeral Service: 'He Carried Us'
Though The Wanted had reunited for a brief U.K. tour just before Parker's death, the musicians — who were pallbearers at his London funeral — canceled an upcoming performance earlier this month, telling fans that they were "still processing" his death.
"It is just over 2 months since we lost Tom and as much as we love performing live, it is just far too soon for us to even think about being on stage again as The Wanted," the group said in a statement.
