Anne Diamond's heartbreaking life - baby son's death, divorce to cancer battle
Anne Diamond has enjoyed an incredibly successful career in television – as she's worked on big shows including Loose Women and Good Morning, which she hosted alongside Nick Owen, in the 1980s.
However, in her personal life, the 68-year-old TV star has suffered a string of sad tragedies including the death of her beloved son Sebastian and the divorce from her husband Mike Hollingsworth.
Anne has recently suffered more difficult times as she revealed she has been diagnosed with cancer.
Despite facing a series of tough times in her life, Anne has always managed to turn something positive out of her negative experiences from her selfless charity work efforts to her candid talks on Loose Women.
In 1991, on the day of her eldest son Oliver's fourth birthday, Anne found her son Sebastian lifeless in his cot.
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Anne Diamond has had great professional success but suffered personal tragedies (EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS)Sebastian had died from sudden infant death syndrome, also referred to as SIDS. He was just four-and-a-half-months old at the time.
The tragic death of Anne and Mike's son was incredibly public, due to her job on morning television at the time.
Anne was determined to get answers and discovered that studies had found that babies sleeping on their backs were less likely to suffer cot death, which wasn't offered as advice by the UK government at the time.
Anne decided to rally the government before creating the Back To Sleep campaign, advising parents that babies should sleep on their backs – which was against the health advice at the time.
She joined The Lullaby Trust and enlisted the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) in her bid to drive the message and reduce SIDS.
Anne Diamond's son Sebastian died at four months old (Mirrorpix)
Anne started a campaign to raise awareness that babies should sleep on their backs (EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS)Following her Back To Sleep campaign, which ran on TV throughout the winter of 1991, the rate of cot deaths dropped dramatically from 2,500 a year to 300.
Chief executive of the Lullaby Trust Francine Bates previously told the BBC of Anne's campaign: "It was one of the most successful public health campaigns ever.
"People did change their behaviour. It's so simple.
"Without Anne Diamond that wouldn't have happened as quickly as it did. Because she was a celebrity, a public figure, people were shocked and hurt for Anne, she was a successful journalist, she was able to mobilise the media and politicians very successfully."
Anne was recognised for her awareness raising efforts with an OBEAnne became the first non-medic to be awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and was honoured with an OBE in 2023's New Year Honours list.
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As she spoke of her OBE in December last year, she revealed she still missed her baby son.
Anne told the BBC: "This OBE is literally a crowning achievement to everyone who helped me and upon whose ground-breaking research my campaign was based.
"This is also testament that the media can be a force for good. By the government's own report, 80% of parents who got the life-saving advice got it from the TV ads.
As well as her beloved late son Sebastian, Anne is also a proud mum to sons Oliver, Conor, James and Jake (EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS)
Anne said she still misses her son (WireImage)"But mostly this is for Sebastian, whom we still miss, and all of those tragically lost lives."
As well as her beloved late son Sebastian, Anne is also a proud mum to sons Oliver, Conor, James and Jake, whom she shares with her ex-husband Mike.
Anne and Mike, who was a TV executive at ITV morning show TV-AM, were married for 10 years from 1989 until 1999.
The pair started their relationship when Mike was married.
However, their marriage collapsed when it was discovered that Mike had an affair with radio presenter Harriet Scott.
Anne Diamond and Mike Hollingsworth were married from 1989 until 1999 (EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS)Anne previously told the Mirror of her romance with Mike: "We knew we shouldn’t go there because Mike had a wife and child.
"It was on and off for years. We found ourselves trying to stop and it was very painful.
"But I’ll never forget the loneliness of being the other woman.
"I knew what it was like to be wrestling with my conscience and to love a man who could never be with me at special times like Christmas.
"It was wrong but I was overwhelmed by feelings.
Anne and Mike got together while he was still married (EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS)
The pair split when Mike had an affair (John Alevroyiannis/Daily Mirror)"I’ll never forget weekends spent pining for someone you know is with their wife, trying to make another life for yourself and failing because your heart’s not in it.
"When we did set up together, I was left wondering if I could ever trust someone who’s done that before."
Following their marriage breakdown, Anne revealed in an appearance on Loose Women that she would never marry again – and in fact felt "pressured" into her first marriage.
She told Loose Women in 2016: "I didn’t want to get married. I was pressured into it.
"I can’t think of a reason for wanting to get married again."
Anne Diamond doesn't want to get married again (John Alevroyiannis/Daily Mirror)Anne faced public backlash as she was pregnant with her first son Oliver before she was married to Mike.
She explained: "There was a lot of pressure for me because I was Britain's most famous unmarried mother back in 1987.
"That was the headline, it was scandalous then. I came under a lot of pressure from my employers."
Following the split, Anne also admitted she struggled when it came to romance.
"I put up a barrier," she revealed. "I know I do, I don’t know why I do that.
Anne has shared her life experiences during appearances on Loose Women (ITV)"If you ask me what I would most want in the world, it would be financial independence for the rest of my life."
Years after Anne's divorce in 2006, Anne appeared on Celebrity Fit Club as she revealed her difficulties with her weight and going up to 15 stone.
But, she quit the programme after it was revealed she'd had a gastric band.
Recalling her difficulties with weight, she previously recalled to the Mirror: "I’d tried every diet you can imagine.
"Nothing worked. I went to Belgium to have a gastric band and they didn’t fit it right.
Anne Diamond struggled with her weight (ITV)
Anne Diamond underwent a gastric band operation which needed fixing (ITV)"My self-esteem was so low because even surgery hadn’t worked.
"I remember thinking if the only way I am going to lose weight is to humiliate myself into it on TV, that’s how I’ll do it."
She added: "I didn’t tell them about the gastric band. I didn’t want to come over as even more of a failure but they just exploited me and dropped me in the s**t."
Anne went on to have a second successful operation.
However, the "appalling abuse" she's received by the press in the 1980s and 1990s had a remaining impact on her confidence.
In 2017, Anne refused to take part in Loose Women's body confidence campaign Loose Women Body Stories, which saw the panelists bare their bodies for the first time without filters or airbrushing.
Anne revealed that one particular headline which said she was "so fat her children were ashamed of her" had been so "damaging" she never truly got over it.
Speaking on the show at the time, Anne said: "Now I totally get that but I think some of us have been bullied for so long about their body image that I can never get to the point of saying I'm OK to do it and have the picture."
Anne has recalled the 'appalling abuse' she received about her weight in the past (Rex Features)Anne added: "Some of the media thought it was OK to say the cruelest of things and deliberately catch you off guard at the worst moments.
"You used to dread going into the newsagent or going into work in the morning and open the paper to see such cruel headlines."
The presenter explained: "It was in the mainstream press in those days and it was perfectly acceptable to say those cruel things. Now those things are said on social media.
"I think if you’ve go through enough of it you never quite shake it off. I totally admire what you're doing but I just know I couldn't it."
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