Richard Coles suffered the devastating loss of his husband David in 2019
(Image: PA Features Archive/Press Association Images)

ITV I'm A Celeb's Rev Richard Coles' heartbreaking 'wish' after husband's tragic death

by · Manchester Evening News

Reverend Richard Coles, who is entering the I’m A Celeb jungle in tonight’s episode, suffered the tragic and devastating loss of his husband in 2019.

Coles’ late husband David, also a clergyman, was only 43 when he died of liver disease, caused by an alcohol addiction that had gripped him since his teenage years.

Although Richard has found love again with actor Dickie Cant, he confessed that he feels “disloyal” in living his life without David.

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Discussing his loss in 2022, Rev Coles said: “I was absolutely with David through thick and thin, and I was with him till the very end.

“If you really love someone, part of you is destroyed when they die. I don't want to pretend that's not the case. I sometimes feel the tension that I will leave him behind.

“And I would never have left him behind. I feel a tinge of disloyalty in living more life without him.”

He met his late husband after David approached Richard for advice on joining the clergy and although they soon developed romantic feelings for each other, they initially were not intimate with each other.

Rev Richard Coles had made numerous TV appearances over the years and he is now entering ITV's I'm A Celeb as a late arrival
(Image: BBC)

And Coles retired from the clergy in 2022 because he felt he could no longer condone the way the Church of England "doesn't treat people fairly" in respect to its position on homosexuality.

In his memoir, The Madness of Grief, Richard wrote about living with someone in the grips of alcohol addiction and the "paralysing" period of sadness that followed.

Speaking to The Guardian in 2021, Rev Coles heartbreakingly admitted that he “neglected important things”.

He said: “I realised, suddenly, that in trying to fill my life with as much incident and interest as I could I had neglected important things of home and hearth.

“I wish I’d spent more time with David. I wish I’d prioritised doing nothing with David more. Not seeing that as a holiday from things, but as the centre of things.

“I think anyone who has shared their life with an addict, particularly someone who has died as a result of that addiction, you are beset by the various guilts that come with that. ‘Should I have done more?’ That thought pecks and pecks away at you.”

In a heartbreaking admission, Rev Richard Coles said he wished he had spent more time with his partner
(Image: Getty Images)

Richard began dating again in 2023. Speaking about dating, Richard said last year: “I wanted to go on a website where I would meet someone who was not looking for a sugar daddy, who was my age, who lived in my sort of world, who I could share my life with.”

The pair met on dating site Elite Singles, a platform for people who are "serious about dating".

On entering the jungle, Rev Coles said: “I will miss my partner a lot and of those I have told, they all think it's hilarious I'm doing this. They have told me not to talk too much - especially first thing in the morning.”

Partner Dickie Cant won't be flying to Australia to greet him because of work commitments.

Rev Richard will be joining N-Dubz star Tulisa, Loose Woman Jane Moore, professional dancer Oti Mabuse and many more stars in Australia to take part in ITV’s gruelling competition show.