Sky Sports anchor and committed Christian Simon Thomas says he is weak from grief after his wife Gemma died suddenly, aged 40, late last year.
The former Blue Peter presenter responded to words of encouragement from people urging him to 'be strong' and said 'being strong is so very very hard' and 'right now, I am anything but strong'.
Writing on his blog about deep fear, sleep deprivation and exhaustion in the weeks after Gemma died, three days after being diagnosed acute myeloid leukaemia, Thomas has shared his struggles with grief as he supports his eight-year-old son Ethan.
He reflects on the Christian author and pastor Pete Grieg, who said: 'When life is tough they tell you to be strong. Don't be strong. Be weak. Unclench your fists. Dare to vulnerable. Honest weakness takes courage. It affirms our common humanity, deepens friendship and elicits grace.'
Thomas writes: 'This is me. This is why I think my story has touched people in a way I never intended or expected, I have dared to be vulnerable, I have dared to admit I feel weak, and particularly for a bloke this isn't something we do very well, if at all, but for me, I can't be any other way.'
Grieg described the post as an 'astonishingly honest blog about the reality of grief and faith'.
In the deeply moving article, Thomas adds: 'All I can do at the moment is unclench those fists, stop trying to be strong and just say to people this is me. This is what grief feels like.
'This is what it feels like when the person you loved so deeply suddenly disappears from your life. This is what it feels like when your hopes, dreams and plans as a family get ripped apart and shredded.
'This is what vulnerability looks like, and right now I can't be any other way, and as I've now discovered, this is what being strong actually looks like.
'I've been a Christian all my life and in a book in the Bible called 2 Corinthians it says this – "My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness."
'Tough though it might be to admit (some ignorant people might even call me a snowflake) but it is out of the weakness I feel now will come the strength to start a new life, to redraw and replan those hopes and dreams for the future with my boy.'
