‘GIANT OF A MAN’
Heartbreak for Gloria Hunniford as her husband Stephen Way dies after ‘heroic’ battle with illness
Gloria revealed last year that her husband had been left partially blind in his right eye after suffering a second stroke
GLORIA Hunniford has shared her heartbreak as she revealed that her husband has sadly died aged 85 after "heroically fighting his illness".
The veteran TV host confirmed the tragic news today, after her beloved partner Stephen Way passed away yesterday afternoon.
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Devastated Gloria, 84, paid tribute to the "kind, generous, and caring man" and told of her "great shock" at his death in an emotional statement.
She said: “Stephen was a gentleman and a giant of a man, who will leave the most enormous void not only in my life, but our entire family.
"He was an incredibly kind, generous, and caring man, with a delightfully quirky sense of humour, which remained till the end.
"We had a tremendously happy 25-year marriage and did so many beautiful and exciting things together that I will always cherish.”
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She added: “It’s a great shock and words cannot express my sadness at this time.
"A bright shining light has dimmed, and he shall be missed at every turn.”
In a statement, Stephen's family said: “It is with huge sadness and very heavy hearts that we share the passing of Stephen Way, Gloria’s beloved husband, who lost his battle yesterday afternoon.
"Stephen had been heroically fighting his illness… but always with great tenacity and a positive spirit.”
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Gloria revealed last year how her husband had been left partially blind in his right eye after suffering a second stroke.
He suffered his first stroke in 2012 and had a heart attack in 2004.
Gloria said previously: "He said something about the garden to me, he told me there was something the matter with his left arm and said it was like cotton wool and he had no control over it.”
She also hailed the NHS several years ago for saving Stephen's life after he was involved in a taxi accident in 2019.
The incident fractured the base of his spine.
The couple married on September 5, 1998, at parish church St Peter's, Hever, Kent.
LOVE AND LAUGHTER
They marked their 25th wedding anniversary last September by taking a trip to where they tied the knot.
Speaking to Hello! Magazine at the time, Gloria said "love, laughter and good conversation" is key to a happy marriage.
"Of course, there is physical attraction, but our relationship is full of kindness and humour. We enjoy talking to each other. Talk, talk, talk – that is a wonderful thing," she added.
Gloria shares two children with her first husband Don Keating, Michael and Paul Keating.
Stephen Way was there to support the legendary TV host when she lost her daughter Caron Keating to breast cancer in 2004.
The doting husband was also by her side during her own health battles.
It came after the Loose Women star was rushed to hospital with kidney stones and sepsis.
In a 2023 interview told The Mirror: “The last thing [the doctors] said before I went to theatre was: ‘When I take this stent out you are going to feel so much better.’
“But the next thing I knew coming out of the anaesthetic, was a nurse saying to me: ‘Don’t worry, don’t panic.
"But we are having to transfer you by ambulance to a different hospital because we can’t get your blood pressure up.'
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“Thankfully it hadn’t gone beyond the kidney. I guess that’s why I felt so awful and it did flatten me for a while."
A few years prior, Gloria was also blue-lighted to hospital after breaking the bone in her eye socket in the fall which forced her to miss the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
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