Adele Roberts shares tragic news after Dancing on Ice debut
BBC Radio 1 DJ Adele Roberts is appearing on the latest series of Dancing on Ice. (ITV)
Dancing on Ice star Adele Roberts has announced that her late mother Jackie Roberts passed away earlier this month at the age of 61.
On Sunday evening, BBC Radio 1 broadcaster Roberts appeared on Dancing on Ice for her first routine with skating partner Mark Hanretty in which they performed to Grace VanderWaal’s song ‘Clearly’.
Roberts later announced on Instagram that the routine was dedicated to her late mother, Jackie, who passed away earlier in January.
The DJ and presenter wrote: “For you Mum. Tonight’s performance was dedicated to the memory of my beautiful Mum, Jackie Roberts. 01.09.62 – 04.01.24.”
“I didn’t want to say anything until I’d managed to get through our routine tonight. So apologies if it seemed I was overly emotional. My heart is broken and I miss my mum so much. Saying goodbye to her this week was one of the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. :
“My mum got to see the start of our routine… and tonight I wanted to finish it in her honour.”
Roberts thanked her family for giving her “the strength to carry on” and went on to thank the Dancing on Ice team for guiding her through “one of the toughest weeks” of her life, particularly her partner Mark.
“Thank you to every single person who has supported us so far. We are absolutely blown away by your encouragement and kindness. Mark and I are truly grateful and we promise to keep trying our best and give it 100%,” Roberts added.
Roberts and her partner received 27.5 points for their performance on Sunday – the joint highest score with Eddie the Eagle and his skating partner Vicky Ogden.
Roberts previously spoke about how appearing on Dancing on Ice has helped her to “reclaim” her body after being diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2021.
Roberts, who is in a relationship with actor Kate Holderness, identifies as bisexual and regularly campaigns for LGBTQ+ rights. She came out to her friends at 18 when she started DJing but her family wasn’t aware of her sexuality – it was appearing on reality TV show Big Brother in 2002 that changed that.
Roberts previously told Pink News: “I went on this reality TV show, and that’s when the whole world found out that I’m gay, but I hadn’t actually told my mum and dad at that point… and it went a bit pear-shaped, so I just wished I had had that conversation with them before I did the TV show, but because of my social life, where I was kind of out already, I didn’t even think about it, and I didn’t realise that they did not officially know.”
The DJ presented a documentary for Radio 1 and 1Xtra called Coming Out, where she shared her own coming out story and delved into others’ coming out stories too.
Dancing on Ice continues this Sunday, 28 January at 6.20pm on ITV.
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