Michael Ball was moved to tears on This Morning as he opened up about the heartbreaking but peaceful final days of his beloved mother, Ruth.
The singer, who appeared on the ITV show to promote his 23rd studio album Glow, spoke with raw emotion about losing Ruth last August at the age of 91. He revealed that after falling suddenly ill, his mother made the brave decision to receive end-of-life care rather than face further painful medical intervention.
“It was the most beautiful, if one can plan a death, you know,” Michael told hosts Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond. “She was taken ill on a Saturday. I went to the hospital, and for five days she had one very serious episode — a heart episode. The doctors said, ‘If we intervene again, it will be really horrible.’”
But Ruth, still fully aware and as strong-willed as ever, knew exactly what she wanted. Michael recalled: “She said, ‘No, I’d like end-of-life care now, please’ — fully conscious, utterly determined, and funny as hell. We cried, we talked, I was holding her hand as she went.”
Fighting back tears, Michael said the loss was not a tragedy, but something deeply sad and strangely beautiful. “It wasn’t a tragedy, it’s deeply sad. But it was a beautiful, perfect goodbye,” he said.
He also shared a touching memory of Ruth’s 90th birthday, when she rejected the idea of a fancy lunch at the Ritz and instead chose adventure. “She wanted to go on the fastest zip wire in North Wales and get a tattoo on her arm,” Michael said.
Ruth picked a Welsh dragon tattoo before fearlessly taking on the zip wire — a memory that perfectly captured her bold, joyful spirit.
“It was a perfect ending. It was perfect,” Michael said, smiling through tears as he remembered the mother who lived life exactly her own way.
