Rick Parfitt's heartbroken widow has given her first TV interview since his death. Lyndsay Parfitt made a brave appearance on Lorraine on Wednesday, and spoke her overwhelming sense of loss following Rick's passing on Christmas Eve. "It's left a huge hole in my life and the children's life and all the fans' world as well. He really was such a personality," she told host Lorraine Kelly. "I have moments, a lot of moments, when I'm really struggling. I really miss him. I sort of wake up at night and think this hasn't really happened. It's like a nightmare, it's not real."
© Photo: RexLyndsay Parfitt has given her first TV interview since the death of her husband Rick Parfitt
She added: "A lot of the time when he was away we lived on Skype, when he was touring. Now I can hardly bear to hear the noise it makes when it calls because it's not him."
Rick died at the age of 68 on 24 December, after suffering from a severe infection. "We are truly devastated to have to announce that Status Quo guitarist Rick Parfitt has passed away at lunchtime today," a statement confirmed. "He died in hospital in Marbella, Spain, as a result of a severe infection, having been admitted to hospital on Thursday evening following complications to a shoulder injury incurred by a previous fall." He left behind wife Lyndsay, their nine-year-old twins Tommy and Lilly, and his adult children, Rick Jr and Harry.
© Photo: RexStatus Quo rocker and wife Lyndsay had been married since 2006
Of learning of Rick's death, Lyndsay said: "It was just unbelievable – and such a futile way to die really. He was a lion, a monster of a man really, survived all sorts of health scares. I think we all felt that he'd always come through. Obviously this was just one too many things.
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"I sometimes beat myself up, I think everybody does when they’ve lost somebody, you say, 'what if I'd done this?' or 'we should have done this earlier' or whatever. Then you start to take on the guilt yourself and say 'why didn't I take him here and do that?' To die as a victim of a form of sepsis feels very cruel." Lyndsay continued: "He always said 'it would take more than death to kill me' - that was his catchphrase. On the Quo website now it's put, 'Not a bad life really', which is another comment he used to make."
