Piers Morgan has paid tribute to the late, great Sir Michael Parkinson and recalled his reaction to making him cry during an interview.
The Life Stories host spoke to the iconic broadcaster – whose death at the age of 88 was confirmed on Thursday, August 17 – for the ITV programme in 2019 and in his dressing room before the chat he told him he would ‘never’ make him cry.
‘In his entire career as one of Britain’s finest broadcasters, Parky had never shed a public tear. But then a remarkable thing happened,’ Piers recalled, having asked Sir Michael about his late dad Jack, who was a pit miner who died in 1975 from pneumoconiosis.
‘Given that 45 years had elapsed since then, I mistakenly assumed Parky wouldn’t still feel overly emotional about the loss of his dad, and I think he assumed that too,’ he continued in his piece for The Sun.
Recalling the conversation with Sir Michael, he added: ‘We were both very wrong. “I’d never seen anybody I loved die and I saw my dad die,” he recalled. “You could see him withering away. For a man as vigorous as he was, it was like watching leaves fall from a tree.”
‘As he remembered seeing undertakers removing his father’s body from the family home, Parky’s face suddenly began to crumble.
‘“I see the image very clearly, and I thought he’s got to be worth a lot more than that… carrying him out in a little plastic bag.” ‘
Piers then remembered the moment he saw the TV veteran break down ‘uncontrollably’, noting that filming had to be halted so he could ‘compose himself’.
He continued: ‘And then Parky, this incredibly tough, thick-skinned, and proud Yorkshireman, began to sob, uncontrollably, for several minutes. In fact, we had to stop recording so he could take time to compose himself.
‘It was a startling moment, without a doubt the most surprising and emotional in the whole 100-guest history of Life Stories.’
Piers went to see Sir Michael in his dressing room after the interview wrapped, revealing the TV icon apologised for ‘blubbing like a baby’ and ‘losing it’.
He recalled Sir Michael telling him: ‘I must have been storing away all the grief for over 40 years. I thought I’d got rid of it, but I hadn’t.’
The broadcaster ended up writing a book inspired by his dad called Like Father, Like Son – which he penned with one of his own sons, Michael Jr, and he admitted he was inspired by his emotions on Life Stories.
Sir Michael’s death was confirmed in a statement from his family this week, as they said: ‘After a brief illness Sir Michael Parkinson passed away peacefully at home last night in the company of his family. The family request that they are given privacy and time to grieve.’
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