Gloria Hunniford found the courage to speak about her beloved late husband Stephen Way

Loose Women’s Gloria Hunniford opened up about the heartache she has faced since her husband Stephen Way died last August.

In a touching moment on Tuesday’s (January 28) episode, the seasoned broadcaster, 84, joined by Janet Street-Porter, 78, Lesley Joseph, 79, and Prue Leith, 84, spoke candidly about her sorrow during the special 70+ show.

While embracing the positives of growing older on air, the ladies acknowledged that reaching the golden years can sometimes bring loneliness and a need for morning exercises to ease the stiffness of age.

It was during this discussion about ageing that Gloria addressed her recent loss and confessed to the difficulties she’s experienced in living without Stephen.

Speaking from the heart, Gloria revealed to her colleagues: “If I may pick up on something Prue said, I very sadly lost my husband about four months ago and you’re absolutely right when you say you’d hate to be without your husband”, reports the Liverpool Echo.

Gloria spoke about her struggles in life without her late husband

She poured out her thoughts further: “Because no matter what age you are, if you suddenly think to yourself ‘gosh I am on my own and I’ve never lived on my own’.”

Gloria, a familiar face on television, then expressed: “I’m rarely on my own by the way because of family and everything but you know I have always lived with husbands,” before playfully ribbing Janet, saying: “I only had two of them, Janet you had about five.”

Janet chuckled in agreement, responding: “Yeah,” as her colleague continued on the topic of life changes: “I’ve always lived with husbands and children and so when your partner, as in my case, we had 30 fabulous years, I mean great memories and everything and people are rightly very quick to say ‘oh you have all those lovely memories to keep you going’.”

At that moment, Janet stepped in with a caring interjection to offer some advice, telling Gloria: “No, now you’ve got to build a new life now Gloria.”

Gloria’s husband sadly passed away last August

In accord with Janet, she acknowledged: “Yes you do. Fortunately, I am a positive person and we have a phrase in our house, ‘what’s the alternative?’ and what it is the alternative? You’ve got to try and pick yourself up.”

Gloria sadly reflected on the loss of her husband Stephen last summer, with his family issuing a statement at the time which read: “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.”

The Loose Women presenter has never shied away from discussing her husband’s medical struggles – Stephen experienced a heart attack in 2004 and encountered his first stroke in 2012. A subsequent stroke last year resulted in partial blindness for him.

Previously, Gloria had praised the NHS for its role in saving Stephen’s life after he was involved in a taxi accident in 2020 that resulted in a severe fracture at the base of his spine.