In the latest episode of On the Marie Curie Couch, bereavement expert Jason Davidson meets Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
Singer-songwriter Sophie cemented her position as British pop royalty with hits including Groovejet (If This Ain't Love), Murder On The Dancefloor and Take Me Home. During lockdown, she hosted a series of Kitchen Discos on Instagram Live, featuring cameos from her five sons and husband, The Feeling bassist Richard Jones. In this episode of On the Marie Curie Couch, Sophie sits down with Jason to talk about her experiences of grief and bereavement, including the death of her stepdad John.
Open questions
"When I was a kid I felt like death and conversations around that were maybe not spoken about in a way that always made sense to me. It was very important to me that my children could ask me pretty open questions. I'd answer them with as much truth as I thought was appropriate. Or rather, I'd always put truth in there, but always make it at a level that would make sense to them and not scare them too much."
Leaving a letter
"The day that [John] died we found there was a letter that he had written and that had all of his wishes and actually, it was an amazing gift, because the tone of it was completely him. And it was probably the most transparently emotional thing he'd ever done. He wasn't really a very romantic demonstrative man in that way."
Listen now
Tap the link near the top of this page to listen to Sophie's chat with Jason. Alternatively, listen to or download it via Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
If you'd prefer, you can read a full transcript of the episode. Be sure to like and subscribe so you know when we've uploaded a new episode – there are more conversations coming soon.
Content note: discussion of death and grief with reference to themes/topics that might be triggering or upsetting.
